n 



TV/O YKARS 



ABAFT THE MAST; 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 



A PERSONAL NARRATIVE. 



BY 

F. JORDAN. 



So..SJ^.y..k,Sh^ 



'Nursed on the waves, and cradled in the storm/' 



JACKSONVILLE, FLA.: 

ASHMEAD BROTHERS. 

1881. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, 

by ASHMEAD BROTHERS, 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 






CHAPTER I. 

In Lieu of Preface Page 7 

CHAPTER II. 

The Colloquy — Arrival in Liverpool — Waterloo Dock— Become 
an Officer— Captain's Address— Assume Official Duties 10 

CHAPTER III. 

Discharge Cargo— Liverpool— Troublesome Prospects—" 'Long- 
shoremen-Ships and Sailors of the Olden Time— Brutal 
Treatment — Causes Thereof— Instances— Evils of Present 
System — Need of Legislation — Masters and Mates 14 

CHAPTER IV. 

Destination — Cargo — Preparations — Crew— Leave Liverpool — 
OffHolyhead— Bad Weather— Wreck of the "Royal Charter" 
Adverse winds— Bulwarks Gone— Fair Wind— All Canvas to 
the Breeze— Other Ships in Company— Narrow Escape- 
Adieu to England's Shores 21 

CHAPTER V. 

The Open Sea— "Petrello"— Trade Winds— Cause— Early Navi- 
gators—Columbus—His Sons — Zone of Calms — Swedish 
Sailor— "Gretchen" 28 

CHAPTER VI. 

Calms— Squalls— Sails Blown Away— Cross the Equator— Lati- 
tude— Longitude— "Luff !" 42 

CHAPTER VII. 

South-east Trade Winds— Southern Cross— New Stars Appear— 
Sunsets— Death at Sea "Gretchen"— The Log— West Wind 
—Sail vs. Steam— The Albatross—Pass Good Hope— Ocean 
Waves— The Third Ocean r>0 



IV 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The "John O'Gaunt," Again— An Illuminated Sea— Colors of 
Different Oceans— Hurricanes and Other Revolving Storms 
—Squalls and Rain— Vigilance Relaxed — Taken Aback 58 

CHAPTER IX. 

Repair Sails— "Light, Ho !"-Bay of Bengal— U. S. Ship "Brandy- 
wine"— "Sweet Home !"— Speak the "Sir Henry Havelock" 
— Delta of the Ganges— Up the Hoogly — Arrive at Calcutta 65 

CHAPTER X. 

Calcutta— Dingy-Whallahs— Customs OfScials— Servants— Ori- 
ental Romance Dispelled— Cholera— Horrid Scenes— The 
Burning Ghaut— Death of the Second Officer— Chartered 
for the Malabar Coast 75 

CHAPTER XI. 

Cargo— [iascar Crew— Watches— Down the River— King of Oude 
— At Sea — A Shark — Cross the Equator — Spicy Breezes- 
Heave toOfl Colombo— "Sahib" 82 

CHAPTER XII. 

Ceylon— The Pilot— Cingalese— Boats— Pearl Fishery— Decep- 
tive Heathen— Prepare for Sea— Season of Typhoons 92 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Falling Barometer — The Captain— Underweigh — ^^Description of 
Typhoon — Indications of Trouble — Awaiting our Fate 100 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Typhoon— "Sail, Ho !"— Perilous Situation— Cut Away the 
Mast— Long Night— Gale Abates 107 

CHAPTER XV. 

Deplorable Condition —Ascertain our Position — Suspicious 
Craft— Laconic and Profane Speech— "El Ultima Hora"— Pi- 
rates— The Attack— The Defense— Unlooked-for Deliverance 115 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Wounded Men— Dead Malays— Night— "Toilers of the Sea"— 
Starvation and Disease— "Sail, Ho !"— Disappointment- 
Sensations of Extreme Hunger— The Captain— "Sail, Ho !" 
Again— A Man-of-War 123 



V 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Recovering from Starvation— Danger and Devotion— Frencli 
Corvette— "Abordez le Grand Foe!"— Close of Passage- 
Tides— Sleep 134 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Dry Dock— Oriental Steamers — Repairs— Cargo— A Prophecy — 
BillofLading— Ready for Sea 142 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Down the Hoogly— Adieu to Land— Slow Progress— Variable 
Weather 148 

CHAPTER XX. 

Bad Weather — Cold — Snow Squalls — Carrying Sail — Trade 
Winds -Currents 152 

CHAPTER XXL 

"Land, Ho!"— St. Helena- Estimate of Napoleon— Cross the 
Line— North Star-"Far at Sea"— The Last Pig— The Gulf 
Stream— Beginning of the End— Last Night of the Voyage... 160 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The End 167 




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Two Years Abaft the Mast 



CHAPTER I. 



:iN LIJSV OF PREFACE. 



^jJHE glamour of romance has ever been associated 
^& with, the sea, and all who go down in ships therein. 
/(||\ ]y[cijiy books have been written dealing with the 
romantic phases of a sailor's life, but most are dis- 
tortions, and convey but a faint idea of the life of those 

"Whose march is o"er the mountain wave, 
Whose home is on the deep." 

To write a practical tale of the sea, and at the same time 
instruct and entertain, has been my object in presenting 
this work to the public. 

A few years since, riding with a party in a seaport 
toAvn, our attention was directed to a large shij) at an- 
chor in the harbor, and for a time my thoughts turned 
from the company as I gazed at the vessel, and recollec- 
tions were called uj) that none present could appreciate, 
so I quietly continued to watch the ocean monster as she 
lay, with towering masts and enormous spars sharply 
defined against the evening sky, when a creature in the 
shape of a man lispino-ly interrupted me: 



§ TWO YEAR& ABAIT THE M'AST ;' OK,. 

"Aw, been to sea? Cawn't admire such things as' 
ships, you know," and he feebly betook himself to nurs- 
ing the head of his cane, thus showing his rodent teeth 
to advantage.. 

I replied that I had been some years afloat, mentally 
wishing that he had to go a voyage in a packet ship' 
from New York to LiverpooL 

"What a horrid life it must be !" exclaimed a maidea 
lady whose thirty-fifth birth day had been about to take- 
place the last fifteen years, and wdiose dazzling rows of 
pearly teeth, which, in spite of tiny specks of gold in- 
serted conspicuously, could deceive no one. "Perfectly 
horrid !" and she drew the drapery of her mantle around 
her astonishingly developed collar bones aud relapsed 
into silence, 

"But it is> so romantic !" gushed forth a languishing- 
creature with a voice like a Guinea hen. 

"And sailors are so bold and look so nice!" said a 
sweet little Miss of sixteen, whose ideas were formed from 
pictures seen on packages of bon-bon-s and glove boxes.. 

"Terribly profane and ungodly people," ejaculated a 
clergyman in sepulchral voice, w^ho suffered greatly with 
dyspepsia and only saw life through an ink bottle. The 
remarks of the party, however, were soon diverted by 
some new object, and I returned to my reflections and 
was soon lost in a reverie o:^ the past, and again in mem- 
ory dwell among ships and sailors. 

The discovery of gold in California in 1848 called into 
existence, and perfected, that triumph of naval architec- 
ture, the "clipper" ship. Thmisands of adventurous 
spirits from all parts of the world clamored for rapid 
transportation around the stormy seas of Cape Horn to 
the new El Dorado, and to meet such requirements the 



TvECOLLECTIO^IS OF A TOi'AGE TO INDIA. 59 

^mighty sliips were created that, in long ocean voyages, 
'eclipsed steam, and made passages before unparalleled in 
-the annals of ocean traffic. 

When the first decade had passed, the ra/ie of Ameri- 
can clippers began to die out. They were not generally 
^profitable to their owners, and, owing to their peculiar 
construction, only fitted for carr}nng small and valuable 
cargoes which would pay high tates of ireight. Every- 
thing was sacrificed to speed. When transportation 
■across the Isthmus of Panama was secured by rail, and 
•connecting lines of steamers attached, their occupatioii 
was gone, a.nd they were compelled to seek employment 
in distant seas. Some were purchased by wealthy En- 
^iish houses, and engaged in the India, China and Aus- 
tralian trade, while some American owners established 
lines from home ports to India, via Liverpool or London. 

On board one of these ships it was my fortusie to pass 
several years, and the f6llo^^ing narratrs'e will give, im~ 
perfectly my experience during an eventful two years of 
that time. Tiie ship was the largest of her class, as well 
as the fastest, making one of the quickest passages to 
India on record. For some years I have left the sea, 
still, though no longer exposed to its perils and hard- 
ships, I can never forget those with whom my lot vras 
cast. The storm and calm, the long and lonely night 
watches, exposure to the vertical sun of the tropics, the 
blinding sleet and tremendous seas of the far-off Southern 
Ocean, are things of the past ; yet the past can never fade 
from memory, and I hope ahvays — in the best sense — 1& 
be, at heart, a sailor. 



10 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 



CHAPTER IL 



THE COLLOQUY — ARRIVAL IN LIVERPOOL — WATERLOO 
DOCK BECOME AN OFFICER CAPTAIN's AD- 
DRESS ASSUME OFFICIAL DUTIES. 



"A ship boy on the high and giddy mast," 

^^pHERE is the mate ?" said Captain V,, as his burly 
^^;^ form appeared over the gangway steps. 
I^T ^ "Gone ashore, Sir?" was my deferential reply, 
at the same time coiling up stray ropes that lay in 
confusion about the deck. 

"Is the second officer on board ?" 

"No, Sir ; all the officers are on shore, and I am the 
only person on board belonging to the ship." 

The foregoing conversation occurred on board the 
clipper ship Endymion, and Ave will go back a little and 
describe the manner in which it was brought about. 

At the close of a stormy day in December, 1858, it 
was my fortune to be one of the crew of the ship before 
mentioned, which vessel had just crossed the Atlantic. 
Entering the river Mersey, we were taken by the steam 
tug Hercules to the gate of Waterloo dock, Liverpool, 
and the crew worked the capstan with rapid tread to 
those peculiar long-drawn sounds of "Yeo, heave, and 
heave away !" commonly heard among seamen when any 
laborious duty calling for combined effort is necessary^ 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 11 

and which sound so novel, and perhaps attractive, to 
landsmen. More than two years before the mast had 
given me, amid the stormy scenes of the North Atlantic, 
some idea of seamanship, and the hardest, most perilous 
and trying school of the sailor had been passed in that 
region of almost perpetual storm lying between the banks 
of Newfoundland and the Irish coast. Strong, healthy 
and browned by exposure, I worked with the motley 
crew — Dutch, Swedes, Portuguese and Irish — verily, a 
strange sight to look upon, yet all bending to their task, 
seemingly with the one idea of getting on shore and 
spending their hard earnings among the miserable land 
sharks who thronged the pier-heads and clamorously 
awaited our arrival. 

Soon the dock gates were passed, and the gallant ship, 
which had buffeted the stormy waves for forty days be- 
tween America and Old England, lay idly moored among 
the tapering masts and spars of the commerce of the 
world. The crew soon disappeared, and alone on board 
I kept watch and ward, for even the officers had caught 
the spirit which had animated the denizens of the fore- 
castle, and had gone to the nearest ale-house to discuss 
the incidents of the voyage with boon companions. 

They were glad to have me remain on board and 
guard against the inroads of dock thieves, who constantly 
watch every opportunity to steal anything, from a rope- 
yarn to the hawser by which the ship is made fast to the 
dock. As soon as night came, the merchants to whom 
the cargo was consigned stationed a watchman on board, 
and left me at liberty to wander away from the ship, but 
having little in common with my companions of the voy- 
age, there was a sort of melancholy satisfaction in re- 
maining on board, forming plans for the future in my 



12 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST", OR^ 

loneliness, and hoping for the time — then seeming far 
distant — when I might command a ship of my own. 
Oreat confidence in my own powers was then felt, and 
the conceit to which young sailors are liable had not 
been outgrown. It was at this time that the captain 
made his appearance, and the colloquy which begins this 
chapter took place. 

He was a short, thick set man, with square shoulders 
and a voi«e like a lion ; a casual observer could not fail 
to see that he was a miniature magazine of human 
wrath that the least spark of contradiction or contention 
would cause to explode. Not always choice as to his 
language, his bell-crowned hat set on the back of his 
head, and his round and scarlet visage set off by spikey, 
radiating whiskers, which, in the foggy evening air, re- 
sembled a lunar halo. He also looked exceedingly un- 
comfortable and constrained in his "shore toggery," 
which was not, by several years, the latest style and cut 
Evidently not pleased with the information given him by 
myself, he walked slowly about the deserted deck, ehew* 
ing away vigorously at an unlighted cigar. Stopping at 
last and leaning over the capstan, he beckoned me to him, 

"Young man," said he, "you have been with me now 
nearly three years. You have got to be something of a 
sailor. You have found me a hard man to sail with, but 
I mean well by you, and you shall go in the cabin and 
be my third mate. Bo you hear ? Go in the forecastle 
and take your baggage aft. You have got a handle to 
your name novf, and if any old sailor fails to treat you 
with respect you will always find me ready to lend a 
hand and show him his place. Yes," added he, "keep 
Jack in his place, and if you act like a man you never 
will have any trouble with me." 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. IS 

This speech was made with a Legree-like air, from 
which I have purposely omitted the adjectives, profane 
and otherwise, with which it was freely interspersed. No 
reply was made by me — ^none evidently was expected — 
and, standing in respectful silence, I could only bow to 
the magnate, who turned and walked ashore, leaving me 
alone, and — an officer ! 

It would be difficult to describe my feelings on the 
departure of this mighty functionary, wdio had thus by 
his mandate transferred me from the dark and dingy 
forecastle to» the cabin ; and, in future, there could be no 
allowances for boyish inefficiencies. The transformation 
w^as so sudden that it was bewildering, and with my ex- 
perience . the responsibility seemed too great ; but the 
fiat, from which there was no appeal, had gone forth, and 
henceforth my official title was to be Mr. J., and as such 
to be known and respected by all on board. That night 
the rough bunk in the forecastle was exchanged for a 
state-room in the cabin, and the next morning at a well- 
spread table the obsequious steward stood ready to attend 
to my wants. The sheath-knife, tin pan and quart pot 
were forever discarded, and my future lot was to livCy 
move and preserve my dignity where there were knives, 
forks, cups and saucers, as well as other evidences of 
nautical civilization.. 




14 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 



CHAPTEK III. 



DISCHARGE CARGO — LIVERPOOL — TROUBLESOME PROS- 
PECTS — " 'longshoremen" — SHIPS AND SAILORS 

OF THE OLDEN TIME BRUTAL TREATMENT 

CAUSES THEREOF INSTANCES EVILS OF 

PRESENT SYSTEM — NEED ^OF LEGIS- 
LATION MASTERS AND MATES. 



^pIOR tlie next few days workmen were engaged in 
^li discharging cargo, and tlie cotton from New Or- 
11 1 leans was stored in the capacious warehouses of 
Liverpool, which, with its miles and miles of gran- 
ite docks, is one of the wonders of the world. The city 
takes its name from a bird called the "liver," which 
used to flock in great numbers to its marshy pools, and 
the two being associated made the compound of "Liver- 
pool." It took me a long time to find out the origin of 
the word, but seeing a certain crane-like looking bird 
ornamenting lamp-posts and public buildings, I asked a 
policeman what kind^of a bird it 'represented, and he 
told me it was the "liver," and borne on the city's coat- 
of-arms, and also the application of the name as before 
stated. The chimneys are a feature of Liverpool, and 
they appear on every eminence, and each pours out vol- 
umes of black smoke, which, added to the ever-prevalent 
foa:, reminds one^f the streets of Pittsburg. Everything, 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 15 

SO far as beautifying the city is concerned, seems sacri- 
ficed to the demands of commerce. To give some idea 
of its rapid strides as a seaport, it might be well to state 
that in 1565 the whole shipping consisted of twelve 
"barkes," with a total of 223 tons. In 1709 a sloop of 
thirty tons left Liverpool for the west coast of Africa, 
and in 1753 the traffic with Africa employed eighty- 
eight vessels belonging to the port. One hundred other 
vessels composed the fleet trading with North America 
and the West Indies, and about that number in the 
coasting trade. 

The African slave trade was then at its height, and 
the richest merchants in Liverpool acquired their enor- 
mous fortunes thereby. It is related that a talented actor 
once appeared at one of the principal theaters in a state 
of gross intoxication, and was greeted by a storm of 
hisses. Stung with the reproach, he was sobered in an 
instant, and stepping to the front of the stage he shook 
his clenched hand and burst out in his rage : "Men of 
Liverpool, I despise you ! There is not a brick in your 
town that is not cemented with the blood of a suffering- 
African !" Britons always admire pluck, and heartily 
cheered the fierce invective of the unfortunate actor. 
The tonnage now entering the port is 5,602,187, and rep- 
resents 20,124 vessels, and the custom duties amount to 
$20,000,000 annually. 

The captain made daily visits to the ship while we 
were discharging, in company with several merchants, 
but I could learn nothing as to our destination. There 
was evidently some ill feeling on the part of the captain 
towards the other officers, and neither of them seemed 
well pleased with such a youthful person as myself 
Thev were roup-h. illiterate, hnrrlv men. At sea, excel- 



16^ TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST ; OK, 

lent practical seamen, but when in port, fond of drinlr-* 
ing and carousing ; consequently, many of their duties 
were neglected, and the captain was inclined to be at 
"logger-heads" mth them, to use a nautical expression.. 

The prospect for me was rather unpleasant and the 
future looked full of trouble. 

We had no crew on board, and the cargo was dis- 
charged by hired laborers called stevedores. They have 
mostly been old sailors themselves, and worked about 
the docks and shipping in preference to enduring the 
hardships and exposures incident to a sea-faring life. 

In the United States ther are called " 'longshoremen," 
and in some wards of New York City constitute a pow- 
erful element in political primary meetings, a large ma- 
jority being hard-headed, hard-fisted sons of Green Erin, 
whose chief deligM is whiskey, and whose crowning 
glory is to be the hero of a bar-room fracas. 

In the olden time, when American ships were manned 
by American seamen, it was vastly diiferent. Then, 
the seamen shipped for the voyage. The master, officers 
and crew were in many instances from the same village, 
and had family ties and common interests at stake. When 
a ship to which they belonged arrived in a foreign port 
th ay discharged the cargo and loaded her for the home- 
ward passage. They were a family for the time being 
and the good ship was their home. The vessel was well 
manned and had a proper complement of able seamen]' 
ordinary seamen and boys. The able seamen were gi- 
gantic bony fellows, "whose every finger was a fish-hook 
and every hair a rope-yarn," capable of performing 
every duty known to the practical sailor, and at any 
time liable to be called upon to fill a station on the quar- 
ter deck. Then came the ordinarv Sf'am en, stout, active 



TRECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 17 

young men of one or two years experience, who could 
reef, steer and perform the usual light duties pertaining 
to seamanship. After them, the boys, or "green hands,' ' 
as they were called, made up the complement. The boys 
were instructed by the seamen, and it was their duty to 
loose and furl the light sails, sweep the decks, and, after 
a few months' experience, take their place at the wheel 
in fair w^eather, thus lightening the duties of the older 
seamen and preparing themselves to be advanced in due 
course. 

At present, however, all has changed. The law iii 
effect saj^s : "' * * * tw^o-thirds of the crew shall be citizens 
of the United States." It is a dead letter to all intents and 
purposes, and there is not an American ship afloat whose 
€rew, officers included, are not more than one-half for- 
■eigners. The few native-born sailors on board our ships 
are generally in command, or officers and boys. As 
for the genuine American tar, he is a creature of the past, 
and has now become wholly extinct. 

Bad legislation, cupidity of owners and attendant 
evils, together with more lucrative employment elsewhere, 
have driven the native-born sailor from our ships, and 
his place is filled with the scum and renegades of all 
nations, who are mere hirelings — bought and sold by 
shij)ping masters, and victimized by vile boarding-house 
keepers and their miserable attaches at the end of every 
passage. With such characters, in nearly every instance, 
the officers of the merchant service have to deal. Was 
it strange, then, that the coming voyage was full of appre- 
hensions for me ? 

The public are often shocked by tales of brutality 
committed on the high seas by masters and mates of the 
merchant marine. By the quiet fireside, surrounded by 



18 TWO YEAKS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

every luxury and comfort, and with all the social pleas- 
ures that make home so dear, it seems strange that men 
can become so brutal, and that those "who go down to 
the sea in ships" should so abuse and tyrannize over their 
fellow-men. When a case is brought before the courts 
the sympathy of the jury goes with the "suffering sailor" 
and a verdict is generally rendered in his favor. Far 
be it from the writer to justify any act of oppression, and 
it is miserable cowardice in those who are armed with a 
little brief authority to abuse those who are under their 
command ; and those of&cers who are prone to violence 
and abuse are generally ignorant people, trying by much 
severity and display of authority to conceal the same. 

Affairs here are recorded as they actually exist, with 
sincere regret that such is the case. 

Let us consider some of the causes that lead to those 
brutal, and often fatal, affrays that distinguish our ships 
from other nations and make them an abhorrence to a 
respectable class of seamen. Among the principal evils 
is the manner in which they are shipped for a voyage. 
They are procured in much the same manner that the 
press gang once procured recruits for the E-oyal Navy. 
When a ship is ready for sea the shipping master is re- 
quired by the captain or consignee to furnish a certain 
number of men, and usually at the hour of the vessel's de- 
parture they are brought on board, and the sight on such 
an occasion beggars description. All are stupefied and 
crazed with vile liquor which has been furnished them 
by villainous hai^ies who live by robbing these poor 
wretches of their hard earnings. They are surrounded 
by boarding-house runners, who keep watch that none 
make their escape ; many are destitute of clothing, and 
all robbed of their money. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 19 

The formality of mustering them is usually performed, 
and they are divided into watches the first evening the 
ship is at sea. Many of them are not seamen, having 
been kidnapped in the slums and by-ways and brought 
forcibly on board, and many cases have occurred where 
respectable people have been taken, and supposed by 
their anxious relatives to be dead, until the arrival of a 
letter from a foreign land conveyed the joyful tidings 
that they were safe. 

During the winter of 1857 the captain of an English 
ship was knocked down in the streets of New Orleans 
and taken, insensible, on board an American ship bound 
for Liverpool ; after the ship left the wharf, on her way 
down the river, he recovered sufficiently to attempt to 
represent his case to the master of the vessel, but was 
set upon by the first and second mates and most cruelly 
beaten. Fortunately, the pilot who took the vessel over 
the bar at the mouth of the Mississippi recognized him 
as having been the master of a ship he had taken into 
port a few days before, and he was reluctantly released. 
The previous year a Roman Catholic Priest, returning 
from his vigil by the bedside of the dying, was nearly 
murdered and forcibly carried on board an European 
bound vessel, but was speedily released, being so much 
injured that he had to be carried on shore. During the 
yellow fever epidemic of the same year, dying men were 
brought on board vessels, and when the muster-roll was 
read, their names were answered for by boarding-house 
keepers, who stated that they were drunk in the forecas- 
tle. A horrid instance was that of a man brought on 
board dead, he having been killed in a bar-room affi-ay, 
and represented as being drunk. Sixty dollars advance 
was paid to those who shipped him, and the deception 



20 



TWO TEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 



was not discovered until the supposed • drunken sailor 
was found to be a bloody corpse. A young man in Liv- 
erpool related to me a singular story of his own experi- 
ence. His father was a wealthy Kentucky planter, and 
had sent him to New Orleans on business. Being wholly 
unused to city life, and with plenty of money, he was 
soon surrounded by the harpies ever on the watch for 
such subjects. Enticed to drink, he was drugged and 
robbed, and when sufficiently recovered to realize his 
situation, was on the ocean, shipped as a seaman on an 
American ship, destitute of clothing, and almost crazed 
with the vile poison he had drank and the treatment to 
which he had been subjected. The captain humanely 
supplied him with clothes, and when the vessel arrived 
in Liverpool he was provided for until word could be 
sent to his parents, who had been mourning for him as 
dead. All are not so fortunate, and many a poor out- 
cast has been forced on board our ships and begun a 
never-ending existence of slavery until death put an end 
to his worldly sufferings. Persons procured in this way 
are, in the peculiar jargon of the forecastle, said to be 
^^ shanghaied,'^ and the common appellation applied to 
them is a "Shanghai." 




EECOLLECTIO^TS OF A VOYAGE TO IXDIA. 21 



CHAPTEK lY. 



DESTIXATTOX — CARGO — FREPARATIOXS^ — CREW— LEAVE 

LIVERPOOL OFF HOLYHEAD BAD WEATHER 

WRECK OF THE "ROYAL CHARTER" ADVERSE 

WINDS BULWARKS GONE FAIR ^TiND 

ALL CANVAS TO THE BREEZE 

OTHER SHIPS LN COIMPANY 

IsTARROW ESCAPE — ADIEU 



r^^pE were bonnd to Calcutta, India. 
^^ A srans: of rio^g^ers came early on board to bend 
* sails and get the sbip ready for sea, and all 
was bustle. The great topsails were sent aloft and 
firmly bound to their places on the yards and we were' 
soon in sailing trim. It was a pleasant and inspiring- 
scene — sails going aloft, blacksmiths and carpenters at 
work, the creaking of blocks, and nautical orders bellowed 
to the men aloft. All these things have a musical sound 
to landsmen, but are suggestive of hardship and coming 
exposure to the initiated. We were soon to be in the 
stormy channel of St. George — the grave of many a 
noble ship. Our cargo was salt in bulk, which was 
brought alongside in lighters and dumped down the 
hatchway. 

In a few days the last lig-hter, with her load, was alonfr- 



22 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OE, 

side, and our provisions on board. All was in readiness, 
and on the morrow we were to pass out from among the 
forest of shipping and begin the long, long journey. 

The ship drew eighteen feet of water ; that is, she was 
loaded down to that depth, rendering the prospect any- 
thing but pleasant, as she would be constantly shipping 
large quantities of water, which would be exceedingly 
uncomfortable, as we would have to be soaked to the 
skin wintry days and still worse wintry nights. 

At daybreak we were all astir and the pilot on board. 
Shortly after the crew, escorted by touters, the usual array 
of thieves, and even vile women, came along. They 
were a hard-looking set, but, fortunately, nearly all sea- 
men, and as soon as the effects of their shore life had 
passed away promised to be better than the average. It 
was too cold for them to keep under the influence of 
liquor long, but they tried to be hilarious* and also 
obeyed orders as well as their half-drunken condition 
would permit. 

A noisy steam tug soon took us in tow and we moved 
slowly out from among the forest of masts and passed 
the dock gates which slowl}^ closed behind us. The 
captain and pilot walked the quarter deck together, and 
as the ship swung into the stream the steamer moved 
ahead and we proceeded slowly down the Mersey. The 
huge ship seemed to be led quietly past the town and 
shipping, preparatory to the great trial of strength and 
speed which was to come. 

"Lay aloft and loose the topsails," said the pilot, 
gruffly. "Aye, aye, sir," was echoed from the officers on 
the forecastle and main deck. Soon the enormous sails 
fell from the yards and flapped with thundering sound 
as the heavy chain sheets rattled through the yard arms. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 23 

"Man the topsail halyards !" was the next order, and the 
topsails rose slowly to the mast head. Lee braces were 
manned, the sails filled, the great foresail fell from the 
yard and was drawn down to its place, the ship gathered 
headway and the pilot prepared to leave. When near 
Holyhead, the steamer let go the hawser, and came 
alongside, and the pilot shook hands with the captain 
and went on board, and our gallant ship rose and fell on 
the swelling sea of the channel. It w^as nearly dark, 
and the wind, which promised to be fair at the outset, 
soon hauled around, and by eight bells (eight o'clock,) 
was dead ahead with every indication of a storm. The 
foresail was reefed, the mizzen topsail taken in ; the fore 
and main topsails close-reefed, and with the prospect of 
a night of trouble, wet to the skin and shivering with 
the cold, I threw myself on my chest, emptied the water 
from my boots, and, in spite of the discomforts of the 
situation, fell asleep. 

Hardly oblivious to the hurrying of feet overhead, 
the splashing of water as it came over the deck, 
and the usual accompaniments of an approaching 
storm, I was aroused by a gruff voice calling "All hands, 
wear ship !" I hastily pulled on my boots and went on 
deck, as a heavy sea broke over the side and gave me a 
drenching which seemed to chill to the very bones. 
The storm had indeed come in all its fury, and it was 
plainly evident there would be no rest for the weary dur- 
ing the remainder of the "jlong, long night. The hoarse 
voice of the boatswain roused the men from below, and 
as soon as the half-drowned, half-demented and drunken 
creatures could be stationed at the braces, the heavy 
yards were slowly swung round in the inky darkness, 
and we hove to on the port tack. The sea broke over 



*24 TWO YEAES ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

the side in thundering torrents when the ship came up to 
the wind, washing the men away from their stations. The 
lee scuppers could not carry off such a volume of water, 
and the situation was anything but pleasant. The ship 
seemed to cower beneath the tremendous weight of water 
which rolled about waist deep on the decks, and rolled 
over us like breakers on a beach. Something had to give 
way before such an enormous pressure, and soon, with a 
crash, the lee bulwarks were rent asunder and the tor- 
rent of water went rolling back from whence it came. 
The ship lay in the trough of the sea like a helpless mon- 
ster, with the heavy waves rolling over her amidships. 
None were allowed to go below to sleep, and we had 
to wear ship every two hours during the night ; the rain 
fell in torrents mingled with sleet, and the gale so in- 
creased that the foresail had to be taken in, which took 
all hands nearly an hour. The heavy canvas, soaked 
with water and frozen, seemed like sheets of copper, 
but we finally bundled it up on the yard and secured it 
so that it could not be blown away, and got down 
from aloft to have another drenching from the sea 
and another pull at the stiif and frozen braces. 
When the long night at last wore away, through the 
driving sleet and scud could be seen the rocks and cliflfe 
of Holyhead rising threateningly before us. The ship 
was then under close-reefed fore and main topsails and 
storm staysails. The order was again given to "wear 
ship," and with incredible difficulty the gallant vessel 
was made to swing round and come up to the wind, so 
that we could gradually drift aAvay from the impending 
danger. Hardly had we begun to sweep clear from the 
impending cliffs under our lee, when all eyes were 
attracted by the sight of a large steamer near in shore. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 25 

From the clouds of black smoke pouring from the fun- 
nels it was evident the dangerous situation was realized 
and that all her power was being used to steam off shore. 
It was a fine, large steamer, full ship-rigged and crowded 
with passengers. Spell-bound and powerless to aid, we 
watched the noble vessel and could but see that she was 
approaching, stern foremost, the dreadful rocks. Through 
the flying scud and haze that obscured our view, an oc- 
casional glimpse of the doomed vessel caught the eye. 
The cliffs towering high above were thronged with peo- 
ple, like ourselves, unable to render any assistance. The 
time was short, and the fated vessel fast rushing to de- 
struction. It was painfiil to behold, and still almost im- 
possible to keep from raising the glass to see the doomed 
hundreds about to be dashed into eternity. Seeing that 
the time had come, mechanically, and with a shudder I 
raised the glass and gazed on the sad and appalling spec- 
tacle. A tremendous breaker lifted her bow high in 
air, and the noble ship melted away upon the unyielding 
rocks. Though miles away, amid the roaring of the 
tempest one could imagine that the shrieks of agony 
from over five hundred poor wretches, crushed and torn 
against the cruel rocks, the rending of giant timbers 
and bolts of iron, could be heard. The sea seemed 
sprinkled with black and floating objects for a few mo- 
ments, and then all was over, and the white waves dashed 
against the rock-bound coast as if in solemn mockery of 
man and the strength of his handiwork. 

We could, however, through our glasses, discern peo- 
ple at work on the cliffs with ropes trying to save some 
of the poor unfortunates. 

Long after, we learned it was the steamship Royal 
Charter, with gold, and over 500 pafssengers from Aus- 



26 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

tralia, only about fifty of whom were saved. The vessel 
had run too near the rocks, and being an auxiliary 
steamer, had not power enough to steam off against the 
wind and sea. Had her masts been cut away in time 
she might have been saved, as the resistance would have 
been lessened sufficiently to have enabled her to make 
headway until clear of danger. 

Let us now turn from this sad scene to our own situa- 
tion, which, though perilous and wretched in the extreme, 
was ha23py in comparison to that of our fellow-mortals 
whose requiem was being chanted by the winds and 
waves, and whose violent and untimely end we had re- 
luctantly witnessed ; with bulwarks gone, wet, cold and 
miserable, our situation was indeed deplorable. The 
crew were nearly all sick, owing to the exposure and a 
life of dissipation on shore. It was with great difficulty 
food could be cooked, and every one, fore and aft, suffered 
greatly. For fourteen long days and nights we lived in 
this wretched manner ; on the morning of the fifteenth 
the clouds broke away, as if torn asunder by a giant 
hand, and through the jagged rents the sunlight 
gleamed. The Irish coast was near, and as the green 
hills were illuminated, an Irish sailor, with more poetry 
in his soul than his wretched covering would indicate, 
exclaimed, "Sure and it is the sunburst of Green Erin !" 

The wind shifted, and the welcome order rang out 
from the captain, "Square the yards !" The reefs were 
also speedily shaken from the topsails, and rolling before 
the wind and ploughing through the heavy sea, we went 
rapidly down the channel. At sunset the haze which 
shrouded the English shores lifted, and we beheld them 
for the last time. There was a fresh breeze from the 
northwest, the ship staggering under all the canvas she 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 27 

could carry, soon left all landmarks far astern. We 
were on the broad Atlantic and fairly at sea. 

The night was dark and a heavy swell still running 
from the recent gale, and there was every need of a sharp 
lookout. Several shijDs had been wind-bound with us, 
we were on the highway of nations, and in the track of 
many vessels. It was my watch on deck from eight 
o'clock until midnight, and feeling anxious lest any ac- 
cident might occur, I frequently during the watch vis- 
ited the lookout on the forecastle. At six bells (eleven 
o'clock) a dark object seemed to be looming up ahead, 
but steadily peering into the intense darkness the look- 
out could not see anything. Feeling still uneasy I reported 
the matter to the first officer who was standing near the 
man at the wheel. On his own responsibility he or- 
dered the course changed, and as the ship's head swung 
ofi' in obedience to the helm, we swept past a large 
English ship as if she were at anchor, and it seemed as 
if our yard-arms would be interlocked, so near were we 
to each other. It was a moment of fearful suspense. 
Both were sailing in the same direction, but John Bull 
is fond of comfort as well as safety, and was slowly 
going through the water under short sail, while we were 
rushing along with topgallant sails set. Had we come in 
contact two more ships would have been reported "miss- 
ing," but men who go to sea soon become used to its 
perils, and when a danger has been safely passed it is 
soon forgotten. 

At midnight the clouds broke away overhead, and the 
stars one by one made their apj^earance. For the first 
time in two weeks I took off part of my clothing and 
laid down in my berth with a fair prospect of four short 
hours' sleep, which opportunity was keenly appreciated. 



28 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 



CHAPTER Y. 



THE OPEN SEA PETRELLO TRADE WINDS CAUSE- 
EARLY NAVIGATORS — COLUMBUS — HIS SONS — ZONE 
OF CALMS — SWEDISH SAILOR — '"GRETCHEN." 



*E were now on the open sea. No land in sight 
pS and only an occasional sea-gull and Mother Ca' 
rey's chicken for company. Far astern could be 
discerned, hull down out of sight, a few of the 
many sails that were with us in the channel, but one 
was ahead — it was the celebrated Aberdeen clipper 
John 0' Gaunt, also bound for Calcutta, with the repu- 
tation of having made the quickest passage on record. 
It was to be a grand ocean race of eighteen thousand 
miles, and we were dashing along in spite of a heavy sea 
at the rate of ten knots per hour. The tapering masts 
bent like tempered steel, and the ship was so sharply 
built, and drew so much water, that the seas broke over 
the forecastle and rolled the whole length of the main 
deck. Such a thing as keeping the feet dry was utterly 
impossible. The weather, however, was not very cold, 
and all the men could go barefoot, which did not seem 
to trouble them much, as most of them had no shoes to 
wear. 

There was plenty of work for all hands to do. The 
carpenter was busy getting the lost bulwarks restored, 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 29 

and the rigging fore and aft had become so slack from 
continual strain that it all had to be "set up." 

It is easy to write of these little matters, but rather 
tiresome to be dragging heavy tackles about all day 
and then keep the long night watches. To the specta- 
tor, a large ship under full sail is a fine sight, and gen- 
erally causes some enthusiasm. There is, however, little 
real "romance of the seas," but there is much exposure, 
sufiTering and hard work, and the class of men who do 
business on the great waters are not given to excess of 
sentiment. To her votaries, the sea offers coarse and 
scanty fare, rough habits, broken and irregular sleep, 
and demands eternal vigilance, extraordinary skill, in- 
domitable perseverance and unrewarded bravery. 

When we Avere twenty days from Liverpool the dam- 
age sustained in the channel had been nearly repaired 
and as fair weather had j)i'evailed most of the time 
the ship began to look taunt and trim. A favor- 
ing gale bore us onward, and we were alone on the track- 
less ocean. The gulls that once circled above us had dis- 
appeared, and save a few little petrels flying in our wake 
there was no sign of life on all the vast watery waste. 

These little birds are well known to seamen as "Mother 
Carey's chickens," and are called by Spanish and Italian 
sailors "Petrello," or little Peter, from their appearing to 
walk on the water and occasionally sinking into it. 
They are voracious little creatures, and I found the ro- 
mance greatly dispelled concerning them upon taking 
one in my hand, it being literally covered with vermin. 

They are found in all parts of the world at great dis- 
tances from land, and seem to appear in greater numbers 
before a storm, and their appearance by the superstitious 
is supposed to presage bad weather. 



80 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

Twenty-five days out and the winds were light and 
variable, and we had to tack ship often as the wind was 
ahead. When the wind is so a ship cannot sail near her 
course, she has to beat against it and make a zig-zag 
pathway. For instance, we will suppose that the course 
is nearly north-east, but as the wind is blowing from 
that direction the vessel sails as near to it as possible, 
her course being nearly north, but after sailing some 
hours in this manner and drifting from her true course, it 
is necessary to turn round and sail as near back to it again 
as near as possible on the other tack, when she will head 
nearly south-east ; and the difference between the points 
of the compass, north and south-east, will be the course 
made, with some trifling variations for drift, additional 
sail, lee way, etc., which would be rather tedious to enter 
into in detail. This is called traverse sailing, and to cor- 
rect and get the true course from all the different courses 
sailed is called working a traverse, and is generally 
the primary lesson in practical navigation. The ship's 
track, in old works on navigation, is called a rhumb-line^ 
but among the scientific and precise navigators of the 
present day it is called a loxodromic curve, which is a line 
that makes the same angle with each succeeding meridian. 

Three days tacking ship against south-westerly winds 
found us with the breeze again in our favor. With yards 
nearly square, the weather clew of the enormous main- 
sail hauled up and studding sails "alow and aloft," we 
go through the water like a dolphin : 

"Across her stem the parting waters run, 
As clouds, by tempests wafted, pass the sun." 

There is a peculiar beauty in these lines, wdiich none 
but a seaman can feel the full force of, but the romance, 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 31 

SO far as we were concerned, was void and of no effect, 
for at every plunge the blinding spray flew over the 
forecastle, and at every roll the water washed over the 
side, and the only dry place was the quarter deck where 
the captain strutted, and bellowed forth his orders — 
"monarch of all he surveyed," and Vv^oe to the unfortu- 
nate mortal who dared to invade his domain, for a few 
days' head wind had soured a disposition at best far 
from amiable. He walked rapidly up and down the 
quarter deck, his short coat-tails flying in the breeze, 
shaking his head and muttering all the while to himself, 
seemingly dissatisfied with everything and everybody. 
From the way sail w^as being carried, it was evidently 
his intention to make the quickest passage on record or 
blow .everything away. 

When something over a month from Liverpool, to our 
infinite joy and gratitude, we had reached the latitude 
of the north-east trade winds, and hadshaped our course 
for the Brazils, the gentle breeze hourly growing stronger, 
and, full of hope, we prepared for them by setting 
the last stitch of canvas that would draw, and went fly- 
ing over the ocean some three thousand miles in an 
almost opposite direction from our destination. 

It may surprise the reader that a ship, after leaving 
the English channel, bound round the Cape of Good 
Hope to India, should shape her course for Brazil and 
sail some three thousand miles out of the way, but the 
adage, "the longest way round, the shortest way home," 
becomes true in this instance. Modern science has di- 
vided the ocean into highways, and there are regular 
pathways of winds and currents which can be taken ad- 
vantage of or avoided by the skillful navigator as the 
necessities of the case may require. It is for this reason 



32 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

that a ship bound from Europe to India sails in a south- 
westerly direction to take advantage of the never-failing 
north-east trade winds. The early navigators supposed 
the direct course from one port to another would be the 
proper and speediest way to make a passage ; but no 
navigator of the present day would think of making a 
long voyage without first consulting his wind and cur- 
rent charts and taking advantage of the directions laid 
down therein. 

According to the directions of Commander Maury's 
charts — which we were using — we were to sail to the 
coast of Brazil and then stretch away south-east to the 
Cape of Good Hope, describing an enormous triangle 
with the base line from Land's End to Cape L'Aguillas 
and the apex near Cape St. Koque. But it was not all 
fair wind or weather and there were some obstacles in 
our way, which we will consider, after referring to the 
trade winds which were hurrying us onward. 

"The trade winds are those permanent breezes which 
prevail within the tropics, and which maintain nearly 
the same direction and rate throughout the year. Their 
direction is from the north-east in the northern hemi- 
sphere, and from the south-east south of the line ; but it 
is more decidedly from the east as the equator is ap- 
proached. They extend generally from 28 to 30 degrees 
on each side of the equator, but their limits vary consid- 
erably as the sun is north or south of the equator ; their 
external or internal boundaries are also very different 
in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. It is only over the 
wide ocean that the trade winds can blow uninterrupt- 
edly ; between them is a zone styled the Region of Calms, 
in which thick, foggy air prevails, with frequent, sudden, 
and copious rains, attended with thunder and lightning. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 33 

"The trade winds may be thus explained : The regions 
bordering on the equator are the hottest on the earth. 
In consequence of rarefaction, the air then ascends and 
flows over the colder masses on either side toward the 
poles, from which a colder atmosphere moves to supply 
its place. Thus are created in each hemisphere two at- 
mospheric currents — an upper and a lower one — each 
flowing in an opposite direction. If the earth did not 
rotate on its axis, the trade winds, or the lower current 
in the northern hemisphere, would be from north to 
south ; and in the southern hemisphere from south to 
north. The earth, however, revolves from east to west 
and the atmosphere surrounding it partakes of this ro- 
tary motion, hence these winds become north-east and 
south-east." 

Nothing excited the wonder of the early navigators so 
much as the east wind which blows regularly within 
the tropics. The companions of Columbus were terri- 
fied when they found themselves driven on by continu- 
ous east wind, which seemed to forewarn them that they 
would never return to their native land. Brave indeed 
must have been the hearts of those Spanish sailors to ven- 
ture so far away on an unknown and trackless sea in three 
such little vessels as the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, 
none of which were larger than the launch of a modern 
line-of-battle ship ; the flag ship, Swivta Maria, being the 
only decked vessel and about twelve tons burden. No 
wonder the men — naturally superstitious, and without 
the light of modern science to guide them — grew muti- 
nous, and required all the force of the great Genoese to 
keep them from again turning their prows towards 
Spain. Fortunately for the fame of the great navigator, 
and for the world, he firmly held his course and made 



34 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

the discovery of a new continent. Those who deserve 
the most at the hands of this world often fare the worst, 
and the immortal Christabel Colon — as Columbus is 
ever called by his countrymen — died in poverty a few 
years after his great discoveries were made, ignorant of 
their greatness. Posterity has dealt kindly with his 
fame. San Christabel is the patron saint at the shrine 
of many churches in his adopted land and dependencies 
thereof. His mortal remains were disinterred with great 
pomp, and carried to Havana, in the Island of Cuba, 
where a beautiful and appropriate monument marks the 
spot. 

Comparatively few of our readers, probably, ever 
heard much about Fernando Columbus, the younger son 
of the great discoverer Christopher Columbus. This 
man was worthy of his more famous father, and is known 
in history as a man of wonderful learning and a very 
extensive traveller. An English paper says : 

"It is a curious fact that there are no known descend- 
ants of Christopher Columbus left on earth. He had 
two sons, one of whom, Don Diego, rose to distinction as 
an admiral, and the other, Fernando, as a scholar. 

"Fernando was a great traveller. He not only thrice 
visited America, but subsequently traversed the whole of 
Europe and almost every accessible portion of Asia and 
Africa. He appears to have been a profound scholar 
and a thoroughly good man, 

"In his will he stipulated that his library, containing 
twenty thousand volumes, which he gave to the Cathe- 
dral of Seville, should be free to the people, and it is so 
to this day. From books in this collection the late 
Washington Irving obtained a considerable portion 
of the information on which his 'Life of Columbus' 



EECOLLECTIOXS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 35 

was founded. The following quaint epitaph, almost ob- 
literated by time, appears upon the tablet which marks 
the site of his tomb : 

"What does it profit me to have sprinkled the whole 
world with my sweat ; to have three times crossed to the 
New World discovered by my father ; to have embel- 
lished the shores of the tranquil Gaudalquiver and pre- 
ferred my simple taste rather than riches ; or that I have 
assembled round thee divinities from the source of Casta- 
lia and offered to thee the riches gathered by Ptolemy ? 
if, 'passing in silence over this stone, thou should'st fail 
to address a single salutation to my father's memory, or 
to myself a slight remembrance.' " 

All mariners and passengers have spoken with delight 
of the region of the trade winds. It is noted for the 
favoring gales, the transparent atmosphere, the splendid 
sunsets and the brilliancy of the unclouded heavens day 
and night. Columbus in recording his first voyage into 
their territory, compares the air, Avhich is soft and re- 
freshing, without being cool, to that of the pure and 
balmy April mornings he had experienced in Andalu- 
sia. 

Humboldt, in describing the tropical regions, remarks 
upon the mildness of the climate and the beauty of the 
southern sky. He observed stars seen from infancy pro- 
gressively sinking and finally disappearing below the 
horizon, an unknoAvn firmament unfolding its aspect, 
and scattered nebulse, rivaling in splendor the milky 
way. The Spaniards gave to the zone in w^hich the 
trade winds are constant the title. El Goljws de las Damas, 
"The Sea of the Ladies," on account of the ease with 
which it may be navigated, the uniform temperature 
prevailing night and day, and its pacific aspect. AVe 



36 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

now come to the principal obstacle in our mighty ocean 
race, the zone of calms. It has a general width of about 
six degrees, varying with the seasons ; however, it at 
times assumes a width of nine to ten degrees. It is fre- 
quently interrupted by violent storms which can be best 
described by a quotation from a favorite nautical work : 
"When a vessel on its voyage to the south approaches the 
equator, in the midst of the Atlantic ocean, anxious fear 
seizes the crew. Sooner or later, according to the time 
of year, the favoring wind which has brought them thus 
far, becomes weaker and weaker ; at first, it ceases for a 
little while ; and, at last, drops entirely. Around ex- 
tends the sea, an endless glassy surface. The ship, hith- 
erto speeding onward with a bird-like flight, lies bound 
on the crystal fluid. The rays of the sun, falling per- 
pendicularly, glow through and through the narrow 
space in which the men are enclosed. The heated deck 
burns through the soles of the shoes. A stifling vapor 
fills the cabin. A fortnight has the ruler of the sea 
lain immovable in the same spot. The store of water is 
exhausted, glowing thirst glues the parched tongue to 
the palate. Each man looks upon his companion in suf- 
fering with the wild murderous glance of despair. 
The sun sinks below the horizon, the evening sky 
is illumined by a peculiar coppery redness ; and with 
the advancing night, arises a black wall to the eastward ; 
a low, shrill pipe resounds from the distance, from 
whence a streak of foam advances over the black ocean. 
The ship sways and rocks upon the irregular waves ; but 
the sails still hang against the masts, flapping dismally 
upon the spars. Suddenly the storm bursts with a fright- 
fril roar ; with a shriek the sails are torn asunder and fly 
in ribbons ; a loud crack, a second, and the mainmast 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 37 

goes overboard ! By a violent effort the crew succeed in 
cutting through the remaining ropes, and the ship now 
flies over the ocean — now borne high upon the backs of 
the waves — now hurled down into the depths ; so that 
every seam cracks and groans as though it would part 
asunder. The thunder rolls unceasingly; continuous 
lightning darts through the agitated atmosphere; the 
rain falls in streams instead of drops. Ten times the 
sailors give themselves up for lost, when the quaking 
ship falls into the trough of the sea, and as many times 
does it rise over the waves again. 

"At last the storm lulls ; single shocks follow, always at 
longer intervals ; the waves become smoother, and when 
the consoling sun rises in the east it illuminates the 
same dreary picture as on the former day. Mirror-like, 
the endless surface again expands, and in one week is the 
store of collected water exhausted ; and again the silent 
spectres creep about and turn murderous looks on each 
other. A new storm and a new calm, and so, in fright- 
ftil alternation, until at last the ship is driven into the 
region of the peaceful trade-winds on the other side of 
the equator. Hundreds of ships have gone down in 
storms here ; hundreds have lost their crews by the most 
frightful of deaths — that of thirst — and those who have 
passed the fearful region of calms look back upon the 
ordeal with feelings of thankfulness for their new won 
life." 

Forty days at sea and the trade-winds still continued. 
The gallant ship went rushing through the water twelve 
knots an hour ; with thousands of yards of canvas spread 
to the breeze, two men at the wheel, an exhilarating at- 
mosphere, decks without speck or stain, and yards nicely 
braced, we went down the blue lane of the world's com- 



38 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

merce, and looked with some apprehension to the time 
when the dreaded region of calms, just described, should 
be reached. The ship seemed to "snufF the battle afar 
off," and, like the war horse, rushed on to the fray. 

"Lay aft and heave the log !" said the officer of the 
watch, and as that is a phrase which is not familiar 
it may be well to explain its meaning: When a 
ship sails ten knots an hour, it means ten miles, and the 
distance is measured by the log-line and half-minute 
glass, and may be thus described. One man holds the 
reel, and another the half-minute glass ; an officer of the 
watch throws the log over the ship's stern, on the lee 
side, and when he observes the stray line run off (which 
is about ten fathoms, this distance being usually allowed 
to carry the log out of the eddy of the ship's wake), and 
the first mark — which is generally a red rag — is gone off, 
he cries, ''Turn!" the glass-holder answers, "Done!" and 
watching the glass, the moment it has run out, says, 
"Stop r The reel being immediately stopped, the last 
mark run off shows the number of knots, and the dis- 
tance of that mark from the reel is estimated in fath- 
oms. Then the knots and fathoms together show the 
distance the ship has run the preceding hour, if the 
wind has been constant. 

This practice of measuring a ship's rate of sailing is 
founded upon the following principles : That the length of 
each knot is the same part of a sea mile as a half-minute 
is of an hour. Therefore, the length of a knot ought to 
be 1-1 20th of a sea mile; but by various admeasurements 
it has been found that the length of a sea mile is about 
6086 7-10 feet ; hence the length of a sea-knot should be 
51 feet. Each of these knots is divided into ten parts, 
of about 5 feet each. If the glass be only 28 seconds in 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 39 

running out, the length of the knot ought to be 47 aiid 
6-lOths feet. These are the lengths recommended in 
books of navigation ; but it may be observed that, in 
many trials, it has been found that a ship will generally 
overrun her reckoning with a log-line thus marked ; 
and, since it is best to err on the safe side, it has been 
generally recommended to shorten the above measures 
by three or four feet, making the length of a knot about 
72 fathoms, of six feet each, to correspond with a glass 
that runs twenty-eight seconds. 

Most ships now carry a patent brass log, which reg- 
isters itself by a rotary motion given by the ship's Avay 
through the water, but as it is a complicated affair, an 
explanation of its working would be tedious and out of 
place here. 

The chief employment for the crew^ was making spun- 
yarn, knotting rope-yarns and picking oakum. The 
decks Avere scrubbed every morning fore and aft, and 
not disfigured in all their broad exj^anse by blemish of 
any kind. To see a shijj in all her glory she should 
be seen at sea in the trade-wind regions. There is always 
plenty of work about a vessel, and, like a human being, 
can never attain perfection, but some approach it so 
nearly that to the novice they appear so, but an old 
sailor can alw^ays* find something that needs taking to 
pieces and putting together again. It is also much bet- 
ter to keep a crew constantly employed, as they will be 
sure to become insubordinate if allowed to idle away 
the time. Running down the trades they can generally 
sleep the greater part of the night, with the exception of 
the man at the wheel and the lookout ; so they are 
usually kept at work all day. We had some excellent 
sailors, and it was a pity to see men who were really 



40 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

capable of better things throwing away their manhood, 
and a prey to every vice. One, especially, deserved 
notice, a Swede by birth ; speaking several languages 
fluently, educated for the naval service under the patron- 
age of his native country, a skillful, navigator and 
capable of commanding any vessel ; yet, with the form 
of Apollo and frame of Hercules, this man was utterly 
given over to every vice, and suffering with incurable 
and loathsome disease. He kept aloof from the rest of 
the crew, performing every duty scornfully, but in such 
a rapid and skillful manner that he Avas never molested. 
There are men who carry strange, unwritten, painful 
histories in their faces, and his was one of these. Un- 
social with the rest of the crew, seeking no familiarity 
with the officers, with a mind educated sufficiently to feel 
the bitter stings of remorse in their utmost severity, he 
seemed like some great dumb beast with an arrow con- 
cealed in its vitals. Such men do not allow any one to 
pity them, but they do excite our curiosity to learn their 
past history. A few weeks afterwards this man died, 
and as we laid his giant frame at the gangway, to pre- 
pare it for burial, the same scornful expression still re- 
mained on that rigid marble face ; it was also an expres- 
sion of agony, and vice had stamped her indelible seal 
thereon. No trace of his real name or early history, 
beyond that already related, could be discovered. In 
India ink on his left arm was the single word, 
"Gretchen." 

Forty-five days from port, and the same warm, glori- 
ous atmosphere. We were nearing the Brazilian coast, 
but yet a long way off. The nights were truly magnifi- 
cent. The familiar stars of the northern hemisphere 
were fast sinking from sight and new ones rising to take 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 41 

their places. The long-handled Dipper and its faithful 
little North Star were now low in the horizon and would 
soon be lost to view. To gaze on it for the last time 
would seem like severing the last link, and in a few 
hours more it would be finally lost, and we should enter 
the great unknown southern seas. 

The long, lonely midnight watches were good oppor- 
tunities for reflection, and an active mind must either 
improve or retrograde. All my books had been read and 
re-read, except the never-ending Bowditch's Navigator, 
and its well-thumbed pages were my only resort. It 
was a joyful sound when the bell struck eight, and I 
could throw myself on my hard couch and instantly fall 
asleep. 

In forty-eight days the favoring gales had begun to 
fail us, the wind was still fair but light, and occasionally 
the great ship seemed to pause in her course and the top- 
sails flapped ominously against the masts. We were 
about to enter the zone of calms. 




42 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST,' OR, 



CHAPTER YL 



CALMS — SQUALLS — SAILS BLOWN AWAY — CROSS THE 
EQUATOR LATITUDE LONGITUDE "LUFF !" 



gjpHE trade-winds at last had left us. Light breezes 
Jfc filled the sails at times and the ship gathered head- 
ll ^ way, but they soon died out. A heavy swell was 
running, caused by the favoring gales that had 
borne us onward, the ship rocked and rolled in a 
most exasperating manner, and the heavy sails flapped 
idly against the masts. The air was sultry, oppres- 
sive, and at noon the sun was directly overhead. He 
sank at night with a red, coppery glare, and when the 
stars appeared above the cloud-begirt horizon they 
seemed to twinkle with an ominous light. * They did not 
appear near the horizon, but seemed to come out high in 
the heavens. The North Star had disappeared, and was 
seen no more. The iron-tongued bell clanged the hour 
of midnight, as its solemn sound went booming and vi- 
brating over the vast watery waste, and its echoes could 
be heard long after it had ceased. The crew stretched 
themselves on deck to sleep. It was too hot and stifling 
to go below. When morning came the ship had ceased 
her motion, and, for the first time in many weeks, was 
still. The dread, heated expanse spread out before us, 
and, turn which way we might, it was the same illim- 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 43 

itable, glassy surface. In the afternoon a few white 
clouds piled themselves up to the eastward, and a squall 
was threatened, but after a few harmless flashes of light- 
ning it disappeared. Little "cat's paws" came creeping 
over the water and died away before reaching us. A 
squall would have been welcome ! Anything to break 
the eternal calm which for eight days kept us chained 
and immovable. Occasionally an enormous shark came 
circling round the ship, with his scythe-like fin cutting 
the water above him, and his hideous presence only added 
to the gloom with which all were oppressed. 

Ten days of calm thus passed away, and no word can 
express the feeling that word has to a seaman. The 
clouds looked at last really threatening, the barometer 
was falling fast, and the horizon rapidly assuming a 
leaden hue. The captain was uneasy and appeared and 
disappeared every few moments through the cabin hatch- 
way. "We shall see what stuff these sticks are made of," 
he growled to himself, as he disappeared below. Taking a 
hurried look at the barometer, he again appeared. "Furl 
the royals ! and call hands to shorten sail !" The men 
speedily mount the rigging ; royals are furled, the flying 
jib rattles down the stay, and the mainsail is hauled up; 
the topgallant sails were hurriedly clewed up and furled, 
and the main topmast stay-sail hauled down. "Stand by 
the topsail halyards !" — and — the squall was coming ! 
Away to the eastward a line of white-capped waves were 
advancing with banks of black clouds, perpendicularly 
over and keeping pace with them, the space between 
filled with — not rain — ^but sheets of rushing, descending 
water. 

"Square the yards and keep her off!" roars the captain 
through his trumpet. The crew brace the heavy yards. 



44 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

the men at the wheel rapidly execute the order, the ship 
reels and seems to crouch beneath the water to avoid the 
enormous pressure, but directly obeys the helm and goes 
careening over the wave. The great foresail bellied out 
before the blast, and, with a report ' like a cannon, was 
riven asunder, torn from the bolt-ropes, and went flying 
away like a white cloud against the black sky to leeward. 
A second report Avas heard and the main topsail was rent 
in a thousand shivering shreds on high. Four strong 
seamen grasped the helm, and the only order that could 
be heard or obeyed was shouted in their ears by the cap- 
tain, "Keep before the wind /" 

The masts bent and cracked like reeds, and the noble 
ship plunged into the trough of the sea, and, groaning in 
every timber, rose again. For over two hours did the 
blast continue in unabated fury, and the rain streamed 
down in torrents so that fresh water might have been 
scooped up from the surface of the ocean. After a time, 
there was a perceptible lull, and then a fresh outburst, 
but the intervals grew longer and in a few hours 
it was all over. Night came on, and with its coming 
the wind ceased altogether, leaving us rolling and pitch- 
ing about, with tattered sails to be sent down from aloft 
and repaired, and new ones to be bent in their places. 

In the morning the equatorial sun burst forth and the 
same dread calm had us again enchained. Two days 
more went by, and two days of terrific heat and calm 
they were. But little sail had been made as the weather 
looked ugly. These equatorial squalls are full of dan- 
ger, and I quote a description of one by S. G. W. Ben- 
jamin, in his "Multitudinous Seas." He says : "White 
squalls come almost without warning, and with fearful 
rapidity and violence, and twist the masts out of a ship 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 45 

or capsize her, and near the line the squalls sometimes 
pounce on a ship with warning signs that are perceptible 
only to the most experienced eye. Even in the finest 
weather vigilance cannot be relaxed a moment. Some 
years ago two large ships met in mid-ocean, one heading 
for Australia and the other homeward bound. The day 
was fair, and, the wind dying away, the vessels were 
becalmed close together. The passengers at once busied 
themselves to write letters home, and officers and crew 
became occupied in the interchange of courtesies. The 
placidity of the weather lead to a feeling of careless se- 
curity that can never be safely indulged in at sea. All 
the canvas w^as set, idly flapping against the masts, when 
a terrific squall struck both ships, and passed off* in a 
few moments. When the confusion and excitement re- 
sulting from it was over, and the crew of one of these 
vessels w^as able to relax the attention demanded for 
their own safety, they looked to see wdiat damage the 
other vessel had suffered, but they looked in vain. She 
had gone down with all on board, and not a vestige of 
her was to be seen anywhere on the wide sea, which 
looked serene and beautiful as if nothing had happened. 
To be taken aback by a sudden squall or shift of the 
w^ind is one of the greatest perils that menace a square- 
rigged sailing ship, especially if there is a high counter- 
sea running. The sails are pressed with such violence 
against the masts that they fail to come dow^n or brace 
around, while the stern presents such resistance to the 
waves that unless the after canvas can be instantly taken 
in, to enable the bow to pay off*, the surges boil over 
the taffrail and draw the ship down almost before the 
danger can be realized. I was a witness to a scene of 
this sort once, when nothing saved us but the dropping 



46 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

of the spanker ; we climbed uj) the hoops, and the sail at 
last yielded to the sheer weight that drew it down. An 
English frigate was thus taken aback once when run- 
ning under press of sail, the officer of the deck manned 
the yards with her numerous crew, and they cut the 
sheets with their knives in time to keep the frigate from 
sinking." 

Soon the weather grew better and at last we were fan- 
ning along with all sail again set and royals proudly 
sweeping the sky. New sails replaced the ones blown 
away, and in a few days we could hope to pass the belt 
of calms and strike the trades south of the equator. 
"Set the studding sails !" said the captain, as he went 
below to get out of the hot sun. "Aye, aye, sir," said 
the first officer, and we all went to work. Soon 

"The swelling stud-sails on each side extend, 
Then stay -sails sidelong to the breeze ascend," 

It was all, however, of short duration, the wind 
changed, we braced the yards sharp up, first taking in 
the studding-sails, and spent another twenty-four hours 
with light winds veering to all points of the compass. 

After a number of days, marked by calm weather, with 
light baffling winds and occasional squalls, by the help 
of which, and by taking advantage of every change, we 
made some progress, and at noon the captain growled to 
himself as he took his sextant from his eye, " We have 
crossed the line/" 

The latitude of a vessel is determined at noon when 
the sun is at its meridian height, and the observation is 
made with a sextant or quadrant. The altitude is taken, 
and the difference between the number of degrees of the 
sun above the horizon and the polar distance, or the dis- 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 47 

tance from the equator to the poles, which is always niiie- 
' ty degrees, would be the latitude ; but there are some cor- 
rections to be made in order to render it exact, such as 
dip, for the height of the observer above the water, a 
slight correction for refraction, and the sun's declination 
corrected for longitude. 

There is more difficulty in ascertaining the degrees of 
longitude than those of latitude, because there is no 
fixed point, like that of the equator, from which its de- 
grees are reckoned. Longitude is reckoned from Green- 
wich, and ascertained by the following methods : 

When the sun comes to the meridian of any place, it 
is noon, or 12 o'clock, at that place, and therefore, since 
the equator is divided into 360 degrees, and since the 
earth turns on its axis once in 24 hours, 15 degrees of 
the equator will correspond with one hour of time. 
The earth, therefore, moves, in her daily revolution, at 
the rate of 15 degrees for every hour of time. Now, as 
the apparent course of the sun is from east to west, it is 
obvious that he will come to any meridian lying east of 
a given place sooner than to one lying west of that place, 
and therefore it Avill be 12 o'clock to the east of 
any place sooner than at that place or to the west of 
it. 

When, therefore, it is noon at any one place, it will be 
one o'clock at all places 15 degrees to the east of it, be- 
cause the sun was at the meridian of such places an hour 
before ; and so, on the contrary, it will be 11 o'clock 15 
degrees west of the same place, because the sun has still 
an hour to travel before he reaches the meridian of that 
place. It makes no difference, then, where the observer 
is placed, since, if it is 12 o'clock where he is, it will be 
1 o'clock 15 deg-rees east of him, nnd 11 o'clock 15 de- 



48 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST ; OR, 

grees west of him, and so in this proportion, be the time 
more or less. 

For example, suppose a vessel sails from England for 
the United States, and after having been some days at 
sea, the captain finds by observation that it is 12 o'clock 
by the sun, and at the same time finds, by the chronome- 
ter, that it is 4 o'clock at Greenwich. Then, because it 
is noon at his place of observation after it is noon at 
Greenwich, he knows that his longitude is west, and by 
allowing 15 degrees for every hour of the diflference his 
longitude is ascertained. Thus, 15 degrees multiplied 
by 4 hours, gives 60 degrees of west longitude from 
Greenwich. If it is noon at the place of observation, 
before it is noon at Greenwich, then the captain knows 
that his longitude is east, and his true place is found in 
the same manner. 

There are some curious facts relating to longitude : for 
instance — a ship sailing round the world, steering east, 
gains a day; and circumnavigating the "globe, steering 
west, a day would be lost. Crossing the 180th degree of 
longitude, east or west, one could have any day in the 
week several times over. Chatham Island, lying off the 
coast of New Zealand, in the South Pacific Ocean, is pe- 
culiarly situated, as it is one of the few habitable 
p ^ints of the globe where the day of the week changes. 
It is just on the line of demarcation between dates. 
Their high twelve on Sunday, or Sunday noon, ceases, 
and instantly Monday meridian begins. Sunday comes 
into a man's house on the east side, and becomes Monday 
by the time it passes out the western door. A man sits 
down to his noonday dinner on Sunday, and it is Mon- 
day noon before he finishes it. Then Saturday is Sun- 
dav, and Sunday is Mondav, and Monday becomes sud- 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 49 

deDly transformed into Tuesday, so it is rather hard to 
tell which day of the week it really is, and a native 
could have most any day in the week he wished by going 
from one side of the house to the other. 

For days and days light baffling winds assailed us, 
but each noon revealed the fact that some southward 
progress had been made. The air was clear, but the 
water grew discolored. We were now at the apex of the 
great triangle, and the prow was turned toward the 
Cape of Good Hope. Light airs filled the sails and the 
stately ship swept slowly on to the south and east. The 
terrible and dreaded zone of calms had been passed, 
and the gruff old captain, even, wore a look of compla- 
cent ugliness as he cried "luff!" to the man at the helm. 
When the wind is ahead, so that a ship cannot keep her 
course, she sails as near to it as possible, and is then 
said to be sailing "full and by," or on the wind. The 
yards are braced up sharply and the man at the wheel 
keeps her as near the course as possible. At such times 
it was usual for our captain to walk the quarter deck, 
and if the helmsman allowed the sails to become too 
full, he growled "luff!" and if he luffed too much he 
bellowed, "keep her off!" sometimes adding other ex- 
pressions more forcible than elegant. This often contin- 
ued for hours together, and when the old fellow became 
exhausted he hurled a parting imprecation at the man 
at the wheel as his burly form disappeared below. It. 
was a great relief when he was out of sight, but in a 
moment his visage appeared above the companion way, 
and, with a "luff, you lubber !" he would make his final 
disappearance. 



50 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST ; OR, 



CHAPTER TIL 



SOUTH-EAST TRADE WINDS SOUTHERN CROSS NEW 

STARS APPEAR SUNSETS DEATH AT SEA ' 

"GRETCHEN" THE LOG— W^EST WIND— SAIL VS. 

STEAM THE ALBATROSS PASS GOOD HOPE 

OCEAN WAVES THE THIRD OCEAN. 



§^^pHEN the region of the south-east trades were 
§S(^^ reached our troubles were for a time ended. The 
§V beautiful constellation of the Southern Cross 
appeared above the horizon, and new and un- 
known bright stars rose higher in the heavens as we 
journeyed southward. The course was not shaped di- 
rectly for the Cape of Good Hope, but somewhat to the 
south of it, latitude 40 degrees, in order to take advan- 
tage of the brave west winds which prevail there. 

The Southern Cross, accompanied by the ever-present 
Magellan clouds, rose higher every night, and was high 
above our topsail yard-arms as they gracefully rose and 
fell before the favoring gale, and the air was delightfully 
cool and refreshing after the heated ordeal through 
which we had passed. 

The seasons there Avere reversed, and the month of 
March corresponded with September in northern lati- 
tudes, so we w^ere to pass the Cape in the — to those north 
of the equator — pleasant autumn months. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 51 

Moons waxed and waned, new stars apjjeared, and old, 
familiar constellations disappeared; still the lonely ocean 
traveler trod the deep. No land had yet been seen. 
The same brave and favoring gales bore us onward. 
Around, the vast, blue expanse ; above, the sky. The 
sun rose from the deep each morning, at noon his alti- 
tude, in passing the meridian, showed us the latitude 
and southward progress, and when he sat, the cloud pic- 
ture was the most beautiful mortals were ever allow^ed 
to gaze upon. Gorgeous and brilliant sunsets may occur 
in all parts of the world, but they cannot be excelled by 
those of constant occurrence in the southern tropics, in 
the region of the trade winds. 

It was a beautiful day in March, like many that had 
gone before, but the shadow of death was hanging over 
our ship, and one of her company was passing away. 
The Swedish sailor, mentioned in a former chapter, was 
dying. ShijDped under the assumed name of Jacob Jan- 
sen, we knew nothing of his past sad history and its ter- 
rible concealment. He lay in his narrow berth in the 
forecastle breathing heavily, his long, blonde hair damp 
and matted and the damps of approaching death bathing 
his forehead. For hours he spoke but once, and in a 
wandering way murmured "Gretchen." Certainly he 
was no ordinary person. The finely-shaped head, the 
slender, though muscular, hand with tapering fingers, 
the narrow foot and arched instep, all gave evidence of 
gentle birth and lineage. Jja his thoughts he was wan- 
dering to the far off Norse-land, and his giant frame 
suggested a descent from those ancient Vi-kings who, 
once all powerful, swept the northern seas. But night 
came on and we had to leave him to his fate for a time 
alone. 



52 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

At midnight the great bell struck the hour. A hoarse 
voice called, "Starboard watch, ahoy !" "Turn out, all 
you sleepers !" There was one who slept the long sleep 
that knows no waking. The dull, cold ear of death can 
hear no sound. Stiff and stark the dead sailor lay, the 
dim rays of the lantern shone on his iixed and glassy 
eyes, and the watch just awakened relieved in gloomy 
silence the port watch coming below. The men gath- 
ered in little groups about the deck and spoke in sub- 
dued voices ; the long middle watch wore slowly away 
and a feeling of relief was experienced when daylight 
at last appeared. 

At eight o'clock in the morning, the remains were 
brought aft and placed at the lee gangway, enclosed in 
canvap, with weights attached to his feet and the Stars and 
Stripes spread over all. The whole ship's company then 
assembled about the mainmast. "Haul up the mainsail 
and brace aback the mainyard !" said the captain. The 
clew garnets were manned, the tack and sheet eased off, 
and confined by buntlines, leech and spilling lines, the 
great white sail rose to the yard above and hung in 
graceful folds over the sad scene below. The heavy 
yards swung to the wind and the topsail laid against 
the mast, causing the ship to pause in her career, rising 
and falling upon the waves as if impatient to be free. 
Slowly and solemnly the beautiful and impressive words 
of the Episcopal service fell from the captain's lips, and 
when the passage was reached, "we therefore commit his 
body to the deep," the grating on which it lay was raised 
by four stout seamen, and with a dull plunge it disap- 
peared forever. The main yard was braced around, the 
topsail filled, the cloud of canvas from the main 
yard fell and fluttered to its place, the ship gathered 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 53 

headway, and the grave of the unknown mariner was 
soon far astern. 

The following is a copy of the record which appeared 
in the log-book : 

"March — 1859. 

"Clipper Ship Endymion, John Vaughan, Commander, 
from Liverpool, bound for Calcutta, India, South Atlan- 
tic Ocean ; latitude 28 degrees, 32 minutes south ; longi- 
tude, 15 degrees, 20 minutes west. Jacob Jansen, sea- 
man, died. A Swede by birth ; name supposed to be as- 
sumed. No information as to parentage or relatives." 

Thus was another added to the long, long list of ocean 
burials ; somewhere I have read the following beautiful 
thought brought vividly to mind in narrating this sad 
occurrence : 

"The sea is the largest of all cemeteries, and its slum- 
berers sleep without a monument. All other grave- 
yards show some distinction between the great and the 
small, the rich and the poor ; but in the great ocean 
cemetery the king and the clown, prince and peasant, 
are all alike distinguished. The same waves roll over all. 
The same requiem by minstrels of the ocean is sung to 
their honor. Over their remains the same sun shines, 
and there, unmarked, the weak and powerful, the plumed 
and unhonored, will sleep on until awakened by the same 
trumpet." 

Latitude 30 degrees south, and the weather was daily 
growing cooler. The west winds had now begun and 
were hurrying us on our way. A large English steamer, 
bound for Australia, was sighted ; we rapidly gained on 
her, and passed her, leaving her at sunset, hull down, out 
of sight. It may seem strange that a sailing vessel 
should outstrip a steamer, but where steady winds pre- 



54 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

vail, and on long voyages, such is often the case. A few 
years ago a company was organized in England, and 
built, at an enormous expense, several large steamers for 
the Australian trade — among them the Great Britain, 
then the largest steamer in the world — but the cliyjper 
ships made quicker passages, andthe steamers were with- 
drawn after losing heavily for their owners. 

Several of the largest and fastest American clippers 
have been purchased by John Bull, and run regularly 
between Liverpool and Melbourne, making surprisingly 
short passages, and when the great distance is consid- 
ered — about 18,000 miles — with wonderful regularity. 
The celebrated ships. Red Jacket, Sovereign of the 
Seas, and Donald McKay, products of American skill 
in naval architecture, now sail under the English flag, 
and the aforesaid John Bull swells with complacent 
pride as he looks aloft at the Cross of St. George flying 
from the peak christened Ynth the Stripes and Stars. 

Two sides of the great ocean triangle had now been 
about completed, the southernmost limit nearly reached, 
and we were running down the long, green seas south of 
Cape L'Aguillas. Square before the gale, with two men 
at the wheel, all sail set forward except the royal, the 
mainsail and main-top-gallant sail furled, leaving only 
the great main-topsail, and with the mizzen topsail reef- 
ed, we go under such singular and seldom witnessed 
spread of canvas, tearing through the water and keeping 
just ahead of the mountain waves that lift the stern 
high in air and send the vessel sliding down their foam- 
ing declivities a mile at a stretch. Standing on the fore- 
castle and looking aft, the giant seas appeared to rise 
high above the mizzen-topsail yard, and curling over 
seemed about to hoDelesslv overwhelm us, when the stern 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 55 

would rise with the sea, and hurl us along another 
watery descent, making every timber groan, stretch each 
vibrating rope to its utmost tension, and cause the Avhite 
and enormous sails to belly out until they seemed ready 
to burst as they spreacl their broad concaves to the 
sweeping gale. 

The albatross made his appearance and ho^ifsred astern 
in our wake, and a multitude of cape pigeons kept us 
company. One of the men caught an albatross, using a 
hook baited with a small piece of pork, and after being 
on board a short time the old fellow grew sea-sick and 
seemed to be utterly miserable. It was strange that 
he should have been so, after spending his whole life in 
such stormy seas. 

The waves that seem so enormous and threaten to en- 
gulf the flying ship, in the calm light of scientific re- 
search, lose some of their terrors : "Waves agitate the 
water but little below the surface, and it is supposed 
that the effect of the strongest gales do not extend below 
the depth of 200 feet." 

"The crest of the wave is the ridge or highest part, 
and in strong winds is usually covered with foam ; the 
trough is the depression between two waves, and is as 
much below as the crest is above the general level of 
the ocean. In estimating the elevation of a wave, the 
perpendicular height from the trough to the crest is 
taken." Waves are sometimes said to run mountains 
high, but this is a popular exaggeration. The highest 
rise noticed in the Mediterranean is 16 feet, and 20 feet 
off Australia. During a storm in the Bay of Biscay, the 
highest waves measured scarcely 36 feet from the base to 
the summit. In the South Atlantic the result of several 
experiments gave only an entire height of 23 feet, and a 



56 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

velocity for the undulations of 89 miles per hour, the in- 
terval between each wave amounting to 1,910 feet. Off 
the Cape of Good Hope, notoriously the cape of storms, 
according to its former name, 40 feet is considered the 
extreme height of waves, or 2*0 feet above and below 
the general level of the ocean. 

Another! authority remarks that : The height of sea- 
waves is a question that has been much and not always 
satisfactorily discussed. One difficulty arises from a 
misunderstanding of terms. Some mean by the height 
of a wave the actual elevation above the surface of the 
sea in smooth weather ; others mean the distance be- 
tween the bottom of the hollov/ of the wave to its crest ; 
and that seems to me the only rational practical way to 
arrive at a sure data. Taking that, then, as the mode 
of measuring wave-heights, it may be said that Atlantic 
waves in a gale often rise twenty-five feet ; thirty feet is 
by no means uncommon in mid-ocean, and the second 
wave sometimes heaves to a height of thirty-five to forty 
feet. Storm-waves have a curious rhythm of motion. 
At intervals three waves larger than usual rush by, of 
which the middle one is the highest. At longer inter- 
vals five large waves come together, and very rarely 
seven. They often come just as a squall begins to mod- 
erate, springing up elastically from the pressure of the 
wind. Sometimes the fury of the wind fairly beats 
down the sea, and lashes and tears it into foam, or spoon- 
drift, that sweeps over the ocean a white mist, like snow 
blown over a frozen lake, and, when such a tremendous 
squall lulls, the waves instantly rise to enormous dimen- 
sions. The length and form of waves depend upon the 
room in which they have to run and the direction of the 
tides. They are short and abrupt in small seas or lakes. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 57 

Among the Channel Islands the counter-currents and 
tides sometimes raise the waves to over 40 feet in height. 
These estimates, the result of long and careful observa- 
tion, have been confirmed by comparing them with the 
experience of others who have also given the subject care- 
ful study, among whom I may mention the captain of 
one -of the Cunard steamers. 

In hurricanes of course the waves are far more tumult- 
uous and broken, and near the storm-centre pyramidal 
in form, owing to contrary forces or cross seas, and their 
height is greater. It is not uncommon, off the Cape of 
Good Hope, to see the waves sixty feet high, but they 
come such a distance that they have a long, easy ascent, 
which render them generally less dangerous than the 
more rugged waves of the Atlantic. 

We had passed the cape without further incident, and 
were soon to be in the South Pacific, sweeping up off the 
east coast of the great Island " of Madagascar. The 
w^esterly gale had abated somewhat, and with additional 
canvas spread to the breeze w^e were about to enter the 
third ocean on our long journey. 



m^^ 



^'-^ 



^X 






•^<>o^^^- 



\ 






58 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 



CHAPTER YIIL 



THE "JOHN o'gAUNt/' AGAIN — AN ILLUMINATED SEA- 
COLORS OF DIFFERENT OCEANS HURRICANES AND 

OTHER REVOLVING STORMS — SQUALLS AND RAIN 
^VIGILANCE RELAXED TAKEN ABACK. 



^^gFTER reaching latitude 40 degrees south, and 
^^^^ when the Cape of Good Hope bore due north, we 



&i7a 



changed our course to a more northerly direction, 
leaving the track of Australian vessels, two of 
which were in sight, stretching far away to the eastward. 
Our rival, the clipper ship, John 0' Gaunt, of bitter 
channel memory, also appeared far to windward, which 
caused our captain to crowd on all possible sail, but 
night came on and we saw him no more. 

The sea in that latitude was illuminated by phosphores- 
cent light, and it seemed as if the heavens were inverted 
and we were sailing among the stars. This beautiful 
phenomenon is thus described by Mr. Darwin : "While 
sailing a little south of La Plata, on one very dark 
night, the sea presented a wonderful and most beautifid 
spectacle. There was a fresh breeze, and every part of 
the surface, which during the day is seen as foam, now 
glowed with a pale light. The vessel drove before her 
bow two billows of liquid phosphorus, and in her wake 
she was followed by a milky train. As far as eye 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 59 

reached, the crest of every wave was bright, and the sky 
above the horizon was illuminated from the reflected 
glare of these lurid flames." 

This remarkable and beautiful effect is caused by myr- 
iads of minute animalculse, and, perhaps, the decom- 
position of organic substances. In this connection it 
might not be out of place to write of the color of sea 
water by daylight in the different parts of the globe : 
Small quantities are colorless. The deep ocean is azure- 
blue ; and in shallow places, near the land, green. Some 
parts of the ocean show particular local colors, no doubt 
occasioned by impurities. Small animalculse impart to 
the sea in the vicinity of Bombay a light rose tint ; the 
Gulf of California is of a reddish hue ; the Red Sea 
and Arabian Sea are also colored red by a minute sea 
weed ; the Persian Gulf is green ; and microscopic Crus- 
tacea cause the sea near the mouth of the La Plata to 
appear in long, narrow colored bands. 

The ship ploughed her way through the liquid fire, 
and as far as the eye could reach, a fiery wake appeared 
tipping the crest of every wave with a phosphorescent 
light. Hauling more to the northeast we rapidly ap- 
proached the Island of Madagascar, passing it on the 
east side to take advantage of the current there prevail- 
ing. Carrying all our canvas to win the race, the ship 
presented a fine appearance. So far, a very quick passage 
had been made, and when the long moonlight nights came 
on, in the lonely middle watch (from midnight to four 
in the morning), it was a beautiful sight to look aloft at 
the three tapering masts, the trucks of which seemed to 
be sweeping among the stars. Sails of snowy canvas 
rose in symmetrical piles from the deck. First, the great 
lower sails, or courses, next, the banded topsails and their 



60 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

reef-poiDts hanging as if }3enciled by an artist on the 
white convex surface, while on the concave surface they 
swung in unison to every motion of the ship ; then rose 
the topgallant sails, above, the royals, and still above the 
royals the little sky-sails SAvelled to the breeze, seeming 
almost beyond the reach of man. 

The gentle breeze favored us and as the weeks wore 
away we were nearing the equator again, and hoped by 
the aid of the friendly monsoons to fan our way up 
through the Indian Ocean. The season of typhoons was 
drawing near, and we were anxious to make all possible 
speed, and to reach the Hoogly pass of the Ganges before 
these terrible gales came on. As something has been 
written in regard to winds in a former chapter, let us 
briefly consider a few facts in regard to storms and their 
names in different parts of the world : 

Hurricanes are revolving storms which occur in the 
Indian Ocean and the West Indies ; the typhoons and cy- 
clones of the Indian Ocean are similar to them. They 
are circular revolving storms, and have a diameter of 
from fifty to five hundred miles, revolving with great 
rapidity near their centre up to a certain distance, 
ivithln ivhich a calm exists. 

Their centre of rotation advances rapidly along a 
definite line upon the earth's surface. This is called the 
path or track of the hurricane, and it is surprising with 
what accuracy its limits can be defined. Some of these 
progressive, revolving storms that have their origin in 
the West India Islands, expend their force in the United 
States, and the town of St. Marks, Florida, seems to be 
in their pathway, having been destroyed no less than 
four times within the memory of man. 

Hurricanes and similar storms have a velocitv of 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 61 

from twenty to fifty miles per hour, and it is a remarka- 
ble fact that these rotary storms always revolve the same 
way, but that the direction is reversed in different hemi- 
spheres. North of the equator they revolve from east 
to west ; south of it, from west to east. 

There are three well known hurricane regions : The 
West Indies, the Indian Ocean, and the Chinese Sea. The 
general course of the West India hurricanes is from the 
Leeward Islands north-west, passing around the shores of 
the Gulf of Mexico or across it, then following the Gulf 
Stream and terminating in the Atlantic, or exhausting 
their fury in the United States. 

The hurricanes of the Indian Ocean come from the 
north-east, near Sumatra and Java, and travel south- 
west towards the Mauritius. They occur during the hot 
season, from December to April in that hemisphere, and 
are quite rare or entirely unknown during the other 
months of the year. 

The typhoons of the Chinese Sea occur from June to 
November, after an interval of three or four years. 

When the month of April came we had crossed the 
equator and were sloAvly working our way along. The 
weather was necessarily hot and squally, with sudden 
showers. Occasionally a gust of wind came creeping 
over the waters and died out before reaching us, but ad- 
vantage was taken of every "cat's paw" and the yards 
braced for every little breeze, so that some onward pro- 
gress was made all the time, but it was very vexatious. 
A little breeze would spring up, and after working hard, 
getting yards braced and all sail set for it, suddenly it 
would cease. Squalls kept rising to leeward, and, after 
shortening sail, they would all end in a drenching shower; 
then the sun came out with renewed heat, and the great 



62 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

ship rolled about without wind enough to fill the 
sails. It was enough to try the patience of more saintly 
persons than composed the majority of our ship's com- 
pany, and the ejaculations referring to a region more 
tropical than ours were frequently heard, also consign- 
ing our worthy captain and officers to a perpetual resi- 
dence thereija, and which would have put to shame the 
historical army in Flanders, which, if all accounts are 
true, were in the habit of uttering objurgations shocking 
to those devoutly inclined. 

Naturally so many false alarms had relaxed the usual 
vigilance on such occasions, and, as a consequence, we 
were for once "taken aback," with all sail set. This 
very serious matter occurred as follows : 

All the long day we had been tormented by squalls 
which looked black and threatening and which died 
away without doing any damage ; so, after repeatedly 
stripping the ship of her canvas, every one got out of 
patience. During the first dog watch, (from four to six 
p. m.) a squall appeared off the lee bow, but as it did not 
look very threatening little notice was taken of it. At 
the time the weather-studding sails were set and the ves- 
sel moving along with a light breeze. The captain was 
walking the quarter deck, and of course the officer of 
the watch could not shorten sail without his orders. 
Suddenly the breeze ceased, the little cloud grew and 
rapidly advanced toward us. Awaking to the situation, 
the captain roared to the man at the wheel, "Put down 
the helm !" "Call all hands to shorten sail !" — ^but it was 
too late ; the ship was aback ! With a loud crack the 
lower studding sail boom was broken ofi" at the end of the 
fore yard, and the studding sails were torn to pieces in a 
moment. The ship, under the tremendous pressure of 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 63 

SO much canvas against her masts, was settling in the 
water stern foremost ; the great mainsail, before it could 
be hauled up, was torn to ribbons. To add to the uni- 
versal confusion, the tiller ropes parted, sending the 
helmsman stunned and bleeding against the railing of 
the quarter deck. It seemed as if the masts must go by 
the board, and the rain and wind together made such a 
roaring that even the speaking trumpet was useless. 
All that could be done was to hold on to whatever we 
could lay our hands upon. Part of the men were in 
the rigging, but most of them were crouched under the 
weather railing, expecting the masts to give way and go 
over the side. During all this time we were settling 
deeper by the stern, and the second officer, axe in hand, 
was about to cut the weather mizzen rigging, and let the 
mizzen mast go overboard, when a gesture from the cap- 
tain restrained him. The ship payed off before the wind 
and went tearing over the angry waves without control 
and under no guidance from the helm. The second 
mate and boatswain quickly hooked tackles to the tiller 
and managed by their assistance to keep the ship before 
the wind. The captain now roared his commands to 
take in such light sails as were not blown to pieces, and 
in a few moments after, the wind died away and left us 
rolling and pitching about, and a long night's hard work 
before us for all hands. Fortunately no heavy spars 
were lost, but the studding sail booms were gone, and 
light sails toi'n to pieces. It took us the whole long 
night, wet to the skin, the ship rolling as if her masts 
would go over the side, with no wind, to get the torn 
canvas from aloft on deck, and when morning came the 
scorching sun shone on a miserable and complaining set 
of mortals. This, however, is but one of the manv inci- 



64 



TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 



dents that go to make up a sailor's experience, and when 
we read in some novel or tale of ocean life that a vessel 
was " taken aback," perhaps it is not fully understood, 
and its sad meaning has often been — "gone down at sea 
with all on board." 




RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 65 



CHAPTER IX. 



REPAIR SAILS — "LIGHT, HO !" — BAY OF BENGAL — U. S. 

SHIP "BRANDYWINe" "sweet home!" SPEAK 

THE "sir henry HAVELOCK" — DELTA OF 

THE GANGES PILOTS UP THE HOOG- 

LY — ARRIVE AT CALCUTTA. 



^^FTER our mishap in being taken aback, all the 
1®^ ship's people were employed for days in repairing 
"^ sails and making good our loss in canvas and light 
spars and booms. As fast as a sail was repaired, it 
was sent aloft and "bent" to its proper yard. (To bend 
a sail is to make it fast to the yard, spar or stay to 
which it belongs.) These pages are written mostly for 
the information of non-seafaring people, and, as far as 
possible, all nautical phrases have been avoided. Were 
they written for seamen only, different expressions, in 
many instances, would be used ; so if any old sailor 
should take the trouble to read this " yarn," it is to be 
hoped that the difficulty of describing life at sea in shore 
language will be charitably considered, and a proper 
allowance for all imperfections made. 

By observation, we were now to the eastward of the 
Island of Ceylon, and, with a fair wind and smooth sea, 
rippling through the water at the rate of six knots an 
hour. At 10 p. m. a green and red light, far in the dis- 



66 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

tance, was seen, and we knew a vessel was approaching 
us, and by the distance of the lights from each other, 
that it was a large vessel. When approaching land, or 
in the frequented tracks of vessels, it is customary to 
carry a green light on the starboard bow and a red one 
on the port bow, and as we could see both lights plainly, 
and, as before stated, a long distance apart, we knew the 
vessel to be coming directly towards us, and also that it 
must be of large size. In about an hour we were quite 
near and the white sails of a man-of-war met our gaze; 
the lights from her ports, and rolling of the water under 
her bows presented a fine and imposing appearance. 
Soon across the water came the hail — "Ship ahoy !" 

" Aye, aye," roared our captain through his trumpet. 

" What ship is that ?" from the man-of-war. 

" The ship Endymion, from Liverpool, bound to Cal- 
cutta." 

" Report on your arrival, if you please, the United 
States ship Brandywine, five days from Point de Galle ; 
good night," came faintly over the water. 

The distance was now too great to carry on any further 
conversation, though I imagined I could hear still faintly 
echoing from the distant trumpet something about being 
" homeward bound I" Long hours after, those mystic 
words seemed to come over the waters, and revived a 
thousand tender recollections. A passage in an old 
school reader came forcibly to my mind, which, to the 
best of my recollection, runs in this wise : " There is 
something in the word home that awakens the kindliest 
feelings of the human heart. The mariner, whether he 
be among the icebergs of the northern seas, or breathing 
the spicy gales of the Pacific — though time may have 
blanched his raven locks and hardened the feelings of 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 67 

his heart until they almost cease to gush, yet upon some 
summer's evening, as he looks out upon the vast waste of 
waters, his thoughts will revert to the loved of other 
days and his tears flow like the summer rain." 

This is putting it in a rather strong light, as seafaring 
men are not quite so difiusive ; but as the lights faded 
from the stern ports of the parting vessel, and a poor 
outcast on the forecastle, in a sweet and plaintive voice, 



"There is no place like home," 

it caused me to rub my eyes on the sleeve of my jacket — 
there being a strange moisture in those regions — and 
when midnight came and my w^atch was relieved, in 
sleep kept faintly ringing " homeward bound !" " home- 
ward bound !" 

In the cabin hung a picture of a fair, sweet face, at 
which our old captain often looked. There w^as a little 
bow of black crape over it, showing that she w^hose 
image it portrayed had passed away. Looking down the 
companion way, the day after passing the homeward 
bound ship, I saw the old man stand musingly before 
it ; but his finer feelings did not seem to have the same 
efiect on him as they do upon other mortals, for he shed 
no tears, not he ; but enclosed his rubicund proboscis in 
a bandana 'kerchief, and, after giving a twang like a 
brazen trumpet, came on deck and ordered a pull at the 
braces ; stirring everybody up generally in a manner that 
made them all glad to see him get below again. This 
might have been his way of getting rid of any excess of 
sentiment under which he may at the time have been 
laboring, and it would have been a mercy to us all if he 
could never have his finer feelings disturbed ; for such a 



68 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

proceeding was sure to be followed by an extra amount 
of manual labor in the shape of making or taking in 
sail, or a pull at the braces and halyards fore and aft. 

At last we were entering the Bay of Bengal, and had 
seen a few native vessels in the distance. No land had 
yet been seen. The Bengalese vessels are queer looking 
affairs, some of them having only one mast, and square- 
rigged, like a ship. A large Indiaman, homeward bound, 
passed us, fifteen days from Calcutta — so we were near- 
ing our destination. The men grouped about the deck in 
the night watches and talked about "when shall we see the 
pilot," but he was a long way off yet, and there were 
many weary leagues between us and the Delta of the 



The Bay of Bengal is a good sized sea, and we were 
beating up the same in long stretches of a hundred miles 
or more. Every day that passed gave evidence of our 
approach to land. Small native crafts frequently ajj- 
peared; also birds were seen flying landward. The 
water did not have the clear, blue tint of the deep ocean, 
but was groAving slightly discolored. 

A large English ship came rolling down towards us 
" with a bone in her teeth," which, in the peculiar lan- 
guage of the sea, signified that the streak of white foam 
under her bows represented a bone, and the bows with 
painted gun ports, the jaws of some gigantic monster. 
To the spectator, this figurative expression would seem 
very appropriate. 

When quite near, our main topsail was braced aback. 
John Bull at the same time lufiingand shaking the wind 
out of his sails to deaden his headway through the water. 

"Ship A-h-o-y!" roared our captain through his 
trumpet. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 69 

" Aye, aye," came hoarsely back from John Bull. 

"What ship is that?" 

" The Sir Henry Savelock," said J. B., pompously. 

" How does the channel light-ship bear ?" 

" North, north-east." 

" Where are you bound ?" 

"London," and something added in regard to cargo, 
but we had drifted so far apart that further conversa- 
tion could not be carried on, and the Sir Henry Have- 
lock filled away, and was in a few hours a speck on the 
horizon, and at sunset had disappeared. 

With the light of another day the key-note of prepa- 
ration was sounded ; anchors and chains were put in or- 
der for immediate use, the studding-sail gear unrove, 
hawsers got on deck and chafing gear taken from the 
masts and rigging. The water was muddy, and we ex- 
pected soon to see a pilot. The immense volume of 
water discharged by the Ganges and its tributaries dis- 
colors the ocean for many miles, and the land is so low 
and flat that it can hardly be seen until within the 
river's mouth. The Delta of the Ganges and Brahma- 
pootra rivers measures over fifteen thousand square miles. 
Its numerous islands, called the Sunderbund, are cov- 
ered with dense jungles and are inhabited by tigers and 
other wild and ferocious animals. The waters of the 
Ganges contain a very large quantity of sedimentary 
matter, particularly during the season* of rains, which 
lasts about four months. The average quantity of solid 
matter suspended in the water during such times was, by 
weight, 1.428 parts, and the solid matter discharged is 
1.856 parts in bulk, or 577 cubic feet per second. As 
this dry, or wet, statistical matter can be of but little 
general interest, we will leave it with the explanation 



70 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

that it is inserted only to give an idea of the exceedingly- 
muddy state of the water. With every preparation now 
completed for coming to anchor, we were searching the 
horizon to the northward for a sight of the pilot boat, but 
night came, and, under short sail, we cautiously crept 
along. 

The night slowly wore away, and at early dawn, far 
away to windward, could be seen the faint outlines of a 
pair of tapering masts. As daylight increased, a fine full 
rigged brig could be seen lying quietly at anchor. That 
was a Calcutta pilot boat ! 

The wind was light and we slowly moved through the 
shallow, muddy water, and when near the brig were 
hailed by a gray-haired officer, clad in uniform, who di- 
rected us to stand up to the north and west and anchor 
until a pilot could be sent on board. The instructions 
were obeyed ; and gradually shortening sail we swung 
head to the wind, and as soon as headway had ceased 
the order was given, " Let go the anchor !" A blow from 
the hammer was heard on the iron stopper on the cathead, 
a second, and the ponderous anchor fell with a loud 
splash, throwing the muddy water high up around the 
bow. The heavy chain cable rattled through the hawse 
pipe, sails were furled, yards squared, every rope hauled 
taut, and the ship was soon strangely still, and looked as 
quiet and trim as if she had been anchored for days. 
The familiar pitching and rolling was over, and the 
swelling canvas, and booming seas that broke over the 
side with every stiff breeze were, for a time at least, things 
of the past. The passage had been made in one hun- 
dred and eighteen days and we had actually sailed over 
eighteen thousand miles, which is something over six 
knots per hour as average speed through storm and calm, 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 71 

head winds, currents and seas ; which, considei'ing the 
deeply laden vessel, was a very quick one, and no doubt, 
to the owners and others interested, very profitable. 

" The pilot is coming," said the mate to the captain. 
All eyes were turned towards tlie brig, and we could see 
a boat leaving her side ; in the stern sheets was the long 
looked-ibr official and his assistant- The assistant is 
called here a leadsman, and is an apprentice to the pilot, 
and accompanies him up and down the river. When 
dangerous places are to be passed he stands in the chains 
and carefully attends the soundings with a lead and line. 
As the boat approached, the rope ladder was put over 
the gangw^ay, and as soon as the pilot stepped over the 
side, the ca^jtain, shaking hands with him, anxiously en- 
quired : " Has the John 0' Gaunt arrived ?" 

"Yes, and passed up the river two days ago," said the 
pilot. 

It would be profane to «ivrite the ejaculation of the 
captain at this piece of news, so it is best to omit it. 

" You will have to wait to-morrow's tide to go up," 
said the pilot. 

This did not seem to please the captain much, but as 
the pilot was now master until our arrival at the city, 
he submitted with the best grace possible. 

The rest of us, however, did not feel ver}^ anxious, 
for it was a hard journey up the long river, and a feu- 
hours' rest would do us much good, and give me an op- 
portunity of writing something in my much neglected 
journal. It was no easy matter for one in my situation 
to write all that was going on. The third mate is tlie 
hardest worked person on board ship, and is but little 
above the men ; is supposed to be ever on the alert, and 
the first and best man at evervthins: below and aloft, and 



72 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

such little extracts as are here presented were written in 
the moments snatched after hours of hard and vexatious 
work. I have tried to use a pen and could not, owing 
to the difficulty of holding it, so I used a pencil and 
made a few hieroglyphics, Avhich none but myself could 
translate ; and often have I begun to write and fallen 
asleep and been surprised when told that four hours had 
passed and it was my watch on deck again. A good 
night's sleep — the first whole night for nearly four months 
— had, however, made me feel quite fresh, and as we had 
to lay at anchor for some hours, I improved the time in 
writing about pilots. 

In the United States, and most European ports, pilot 
boats are quite small vessels, and sometimes the pilot 
boards ships in a small boat, pulling alongside Avith his 
own hand, but a Calcutta pilot is a very different individ- 
ual, and comes alongside in a large boat pulled by na- 
tive sailors, bringing his servant and a young man who 
,is his assistant. Instead of being cooped up in a small 
schooner when looking out for vessels, they have a large 
full rigged brig for a home. These brigs are rigged as 
war vessels, carrying a crew of fifty or more native sea- 
men, and present a beautiftd appearance. The pilots 
dress in semi-naval uniform, and are all first class sailors, 
which is very essential, the passage of the Hoogly being 
the most difficult and dangerous in the world. The cur- 
rent runs with great rapidity over the most treacherous 
shoals and quicksands. A vessel striking on one of them 
turns broadside to the current and goes down. Many 
vessels are lost in this manner every year, and in several 
instances, with all on board. Some of the pilots have 
themselves been masters of ships wrecked in the river, 
and after losing their vessels and all their worldly goods, 



REC0LLECTI02s'S OF A VOYAGE TO I^'DIA. 73 

have become pilots and made the country their home. 
At daybreak the hoarse cry of the boatswain, " All 
h-a-n-d-s u-p a-n-c-h-o-r !" rang throughout the ship. 
The windlass was manned with a will, while part of the 
crew went aloft and loosed the topsails ; soon the clank- 
ing of the windlass was heard^ and when the anchor was 
"hove short" (the cable perpendicular, and just enough 
out to hold) the topsails sheeted home and mastheaded 
(hoisted up) and the fore topsail laid aback. When all 
was ready the mate, standing on the cathead, reported to 
the pilot, "Anchor is aweigh, sir." "Aye, aye," re- 
sponds the pilot, "heave away!" A few more clanks 
of the windlass are heard, and — 

" Up-torn reluctant from its oozy cave 
The ponderous anchor rises o'er the wave." 

" Fill away the head yards," shouted the pilot, and we 
were underway, moving slowly through the turbid water 
towards that mighty river,. which may well be called the 
Mississippi of India. Sail was gradually increased, and 
soon the low, marshy jungles were in view. After fairly 
entering the river's mouth, the pilot, owing to the size of 
the ship and draught of water, said it would be danger- 
ous to try to work up under sail, and at about noon we 
again anchored off Saugor Island, a gloomy looking 
place, covered with thick jungle, and at night the bel- 
lowing of crocodiles and roaring of beasts of prey could 
be distinctly heard. 

The following day a steamer towed us about six hours 
during the rising tide as far as Diamond Harbor, where 
we again came to anchor for the night. At daylight, 
again taking us in tow, we passed through the dangerous 
James and Mary's Shoal, and anchored. We were here 



74 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

boarded by native boats, the natives bringing off from 
the shore fruit, cigars and poultry, and after our long 
fare on salt provisions, the change was very agreeable. 
The fruit consisted of cocoanuts, guavas, sugar apples and 
most delicious mangoes. The cigars manufactured by 
these heathen are crooked affairs, with a straw stuck 
through them lengthwise, and are valuable only as cu- 
riosities, being without the least particle of tobacco, and 
composed of villainous herbs which give forth a fra- 
grance equalled only by a bone-boiling establishment, 
and the poor wretch who is beguiled into taking one, and 
smoking it, soon retires with a painful, sickly smile and 
curls himself up peacefully away from the society of his 
fellow-men, and when he again makes his appearance, 
seems sadder, more deferential and inclined to smoke his 
pipe of other days and live at peace with the "whole 
world and the rest of mankind." 

The natives are spry, wiry looking specimens of hu- 
manity, very small, almost black, and wearing but little 
clothing. They consider it no sin to steal, but to be de- 
tected in the act seems to cause them great grief, abject, 
and violent repentance, and — ^a recurrence of the theft 
the first opportunity. 

Again getting under way in the morning and towing 
past many places of historic interest, at sunset we an- 
chored off Fort William, and at last the city of Cal- 
cutta, the Capital of India, lay before us. 




'^^.ff,'^: 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO IXDIA. V 



CHAPTER X. 



CALCUTTA DINCxY-WHALLAHS CUSTOMS OFFICIALS — 

SERVANTS ORIENTAL ROMANCE DISPELLED 

CHOLERA HORRID SCENES THE BURNING 

GHAUT DEATH OF SECOND OFFICER — 

CHARTERED FOR THE MALABAR COAST. 



SITUATED much like New Orleans in our own 
j^ country, but with an Oriental aspect, Calcutta, the 

r^ great capital of British India, drains the wealth 
of the interior of Asia, and is the great commer- 
cial centre of the Eastern World. Its swarming popu- 
lation is a curious admixture of all nationalities. The 
bamboo hut of the poor native joins the palace of the 
wealthy English resident, and in the bazars there is a 
perfect babel of tongues, reminding one of the scenes in 
Vanity Fair. 

As soon as the anchor was let go we were beset by a 
fleet of boats, called cUngy-whallahs, the occupants of 
which were all anxious to sell us fruit or do something 
to earn a rupee occasionally. The day after arriving we 
hauled in to our moorings off the esplanade, near Fort 
William. There being no wharfs, ships were moored 
head and stern to buoys near the shore, usually three 
abreast. After being moored, the crew took their de- 
parture, and the labor of discharging was performed by 



76 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

Coolies, Avho were small, industrious specimens of hu- 
manity, and one able-bodied European or American 
laborer could do as much as four of them, but India is 
a country of cheap labor, and four cents of our money 
would hire orie for a day, he finding his own rice and 
currie, which is about all they live on. 

The cargo of salt was discharged in lighters alongside, 
under the supervision of customs officials, one of whom 
remained on board at all times in the interest, as he 
pompously remarked, of Her Britannic Majesty's revenue. 
The salt, after being carefully weighed, was thrown into 
the boat, and when full, carefully leveled off and stamped 
over the whole surface in such a manner that none could 
be removed in transit to the warehouse without detec- 
tion. 

The customs official had his servant to wait on him at 
the table, and, in fact, every one seemed to have one of 
those appendages, and if a person was at all pretentious, 
several were necessary. Their pay, however, was about 
fifty cents per month, and as they paid their own board 
out of that sum, the luxury was not so very expensive. 
Wishing to be like unto my fellow-men, I took one unto 
myself, who rejoiced in the very common name of Boxo. 
His first duty was to take my soiled clothing to be 
washed, but after several days passed and he did not put 
^ in an appearance, my disgust at such cheap labor can be 
imagined. Furthermore, be it said to my chagrin and 
misplaced confidence, the wretch received a month's pay 
in advance. He never came. By his sinful and per- 
verse conduct much of the romance of Oriental life and 
manners was dispelled, and should I ever again be called 
upon — as often I have been — ^to contribute my mite to 
send missionaries among the heathen, it will be a 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 77 

pleasure and duty to respond liberally, with the ardent 
wish that they may be prospered in their great and glo- 
rious undertaking, and bring the whole accursed race 
from their heathenish state of degradation to the benign 
and gentle influence of the Christian religion. 

We will now turn to a sadder subject. The weather 
was very hot and sultry. Cholera had become epidemic in 
the city and among the shipping. The mortality seemed 
greater among the natives than among the Europeans, 
and they, the natives, cared but little for their sick and 
suffering. On a lighter alongside, one of them lay dying, 
but the rest kept on with their work, paying no attention 
to the poor wretch, leaving him exposed to the rays of 
the burning sun, and refusing to remove him to a shady 
place. 

Some castes — the Brahmins I think — throw their dead 
into the Ganges, while others burn theirs on the funereal 
pile. It was a common sight to see dead bodies floating 
by in all stages of decomposition, with vultures and 
carrion birds sitting thereon. The spectacle w^as sicken- 
ing to behold, and the air full of pestilential gases. 
Often a body drifted on shore, when the horrid jackals 
would surround it, quarrelling and filling the air with 
cries which resembled the laugh of a maniac. Almost 
every morning we had to clear away the dead bodies 
which accumulated under the ship's bow^s during the 
night, and push them off" into the stream with bamboo 
poles. Above the city, and in full view, was the Burn- 
ing Ghaut, where the Hindoos consume the bodies of 
their dead by fire — all, at least, save those of the reli- 
gious orders, which are interred in a sitting posture, with 
the legs crossed in the fashion of the idols. As it is 
deemed a misfortune to die indoors, when the time of 



78 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OK, 

dissolution draws near, the Hindoo is usually borne forth 
and laid on a bed of grass — if possible, by a stream — 
the holy Ganges, if within reach, being always pre- 
ferred. 

" Immediately after death, the funeral rites are per- 
formed. A pyre is raised, decorated with flowers, and 
the deceased, after having been bathed — if possible, in 
Ganges water — perfumed and adorned with freshly gath- 
ered flowers, is laid upon it with due reverence, after 
having been borne thither to the sound of music. 

" The nearest relatives then light the pile, on which 
scented oils and clarified butter are poured, while the 
flames ascend and friends and kinsmen sit around mourn- 
ing and watching the burning. On these solemn occa- 
sions, as at all other religious ceremonies and rites, alms 
are given to the poor and gifts to the Brahmins, in ac- 
cordance with the means of the family — though pride 
and the necessity in India, as elsewhere, of living for 
appearances, often lead to an excess of expense on such 
occasions." 

The foregoing description is not my own ; it did not 
seem so flowery to us, for between the dead bodies in the 
river and the smoke from those being roasted to the 
windward, it was anything but pleasant, and not remark- 
ably healthy. The natives, no doubt, believe in crema- 
tion, but the process was slow and appliances too rude to 
make a very favorable impression on the civilized world. 

The cholera was making sad ravages among the ship- 
ping, but for a time seemed to pass us by. Every day 
some poor unfortunate was carried ashore from other 
vessels to return no more, and in the streets of the great 
city funeral processions could be seen passing every hour. 
All nations were represented, and it was a matter of 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 79 

solemn interest to witness the different modes of perform- 
ing the last rites over the departed. The Cross of the 
Faithful and the Crescent of the Infidel could be seen 
above the columns moving towards the distant cemete- 
ries, while the poor native Hindoo consigned his dead to 
the turbid waters of the Ganges or burned them on the 
funereal pile. 

Death came at last to us, and suddenly ; the second 
officer being the victim. At eight o'clock in the morn- 
ing he was apparently well; at four in the afternoon, 
dead! A drunken frolic on shore the night before 
paved the way for the grand onset of the rapid disease, 
and before the next night came his body was buried 
far away, to rest forever in a strange land, and another 
widowed and aged mother was bereft of support in her 
far-off New England home. Cholera makes rapid work 
with its victims, and none are more hopeless than the 
drunken and dissolute. 

A few days after the death of the second officer, the 
captain called me into the cabin and told me with an 
expression of great gravity that I was to fill the place 
made vacant by his death. The information did not 
cause much elation on my part. It might have been 
different under other circumstances, and the new honor 
lost much of the pleasure. The reflection that the dread 
cholera might claim me as the next victim kept me 
awake a good part of the following night. In sleepless 
intervals the passage from the immortal bard came 
forcibly to mind, and, as we were soon to depart, whether 
loaded or in ballast, it seemed appropriate. 

" Wilt thou, upon the high and giddy mast. 
Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains 
In cradle of the rude imperious surge; 
And in the visitation of the winds. 



80 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

Who take the ruffian billows by the top 
Curling their mons!^rous heads and hanging them 
With deafening clamours in the slippery shi-ouds. 
That with the hurly, death itself awakes ? 
Can'st thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose 
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude ; 
And, in the calmest and the stillest night, 
Wilhall appliances and means to boot, 
Deny it to a king ? then happy low ! lie down ; 
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." 

A few more hot August days passed slowly away. 
At the close of one of them, the captain came off in a 
dingy-whallah, and as he stepped over the side, said to 
the first officer : " "VVe are chartered for the Malabar 
coast." This information was delivered with great 
pomposity, and without anj^thing further he disappeared 
over the side, entered his boat and was paddled ashore 
by the dusky Boxo. 

Three long months had been passed in Calcutta, and 
the prospect was indeed pleasing to be again at sea after 
the sad scenes of daily occurrence, and to which we had 
been unwilling witnesses. We had not, however, been 
idle all this time. The ship had been newly painted 
inside and out, rigging overhauled and put in perfect 
order, masts scraped and varnished, the brass work 
scoured bright every day, and decks washed and scrubbed 
every morning from stem to stern. 

Of over one hundred stately ships in port, the Endy- 
mion towered high above them all, and seemed a giant 
among pigmies, and her black hull and enormous spars 
gave a saucy, rakish look which none but a seaman 
could appreciate. 

Many vessels were leaving port in ballast, seeking 
cargo in the Chinese seas, and such would have been 
our destination had not the captain procured a charter 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 81 

for Colombo, in the Island of Ceylon, which he an- 
nounced as he one day came over the gangway, and 
looking aloft, he said to the first officer, "You will now 
bend sails and get ready for sea." 




82 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OE, 



CHAPTER XL 



CARGO LASCAR CREW — WATCHES — DOWN THE RIVER- 
KING OF OUDE — AT SEA — A SHARK — CROSS THE 

EQUATOR SPICY BREEZES — HEAVE 

TO OFF COLOMBO — "SAHIB." 



|UR destination being Colombo, Ceylon, the cargo 

was next in order, and consisted wholly of rice^ 

"Y^ which was brought alongside in boats, being in 

bags which weighed about 150 pounds each, and it 

took 18,000 of these sacks to fill the lower hold. 

The crew were Lascars, which is the name given to 
native sailors. They were very active people, though 
not very strong or capable of enduring great hardship. 
Our complement was fifty of them before the mast, 
which would be equal to about one-fourth that number of 
white sailors. Two of their own officers also came with 
them, who acted as interpreters ; one was called the 
Serang, the other the Tendel ; they messed with their 
men and acted as boatswains. The Serang had charge 
of his men in the starboard, and the Tendel in the port 
watch. . 

When a vessel goes to sea the crew are divided into 
two watches — the second mate takes charge of the star- 
board and the first mate of the port watch ; should there 
be a third mate and boatswain, the former assists the 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 83 

mate, and the latter is assigned to the second mate's 
watch. A watch at sea is four hours, so a person has 
four hours on deck and four hours below, alternately, 
but as such arrangement would give part of the crew 
eight hours below at night, one watch, from four to 
eight p. m., is divided into two parts of two hours each. 
This breaks up the regular rotation, and is called the 
dog watch, so that the men who are on duty eight hours 
in one night can have that number of hours below on 
the night following. 

The " larboard watch " exists now only in the fancy 
of non-sea-going people, and perhaps in some song oc- 
casionally wailed over a piano by effeminate young men, 
but is not used at sea. The word " larboard " is liable 
to be confounded with starboard, which might cause 
serious accidents, and is now obsolete. Standing on 
board a vessel and looking towards the bow, the right 
hand side is the starboard, the left, port. 

When the crew came on board not one of them could 
speak a word of English except the two interpreters, but 
I had, during my stay, learned the usual routine of nau- 
tical phrases in Bengalese, and had but little trouble in 
making my orders known. The crew were very tracta- 
ble and obeyed all commands with alacrity, and in good 
weather, and when well treated, were excellent sailors ; 
but in heavy gales and cold weather, they lost their 
courage and were deaf to blows or entreaties. When 
aroused to desperation by abuse and cruel treatment, 
they did not care for human life, and appeared reckless- 
ly willing to throw away their own. 

After getting our cargo on board, which consisted of 
30,000 sacks of rice, we were taken in tow by the steamer 
Vulcan, swung loose from our moorings, and were soon 



84 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

rapidly passing down the river ; the principal use of the 
steamer was to keep us in the channel. By her aid, 
with two hawsers out ahead, the current was so powerful 
and the bends in the channel so crooked it was still 
necessary for the pilot to exercise his utmost vigilance 
and caution to keep from being dashed on the mud 
banks and quicksands. On we went, passing Fort Wil- 
liam, which guards the city. As we passed its grassy 
slopes one of the black-mouthed guns belched forth, and 
the ball on the observatory flag-staff fell to mark the 
hour of noon. When one of the Peninsula and Oriental 
Company's steamers arrive with the English mail via the 
Isthmus of Suez, three guns are fired in quick succession, 
and all Calcutta is on the alert. At the post-office and 
exchange the commotion among the merchants of all 
nations is wonderful to behold. There are several 
American business houses in Calcutta, and the firm of 
Whitney Brothers & Co., of Boston, were the consignees 
of our vessel. Some few miles below the city is situated 
the ex-King of Oude's palace and grounds. The once 
formidable monarch is now a pensioner of the English 
government, and is really a prisoner of state, but is 
surrounded by all the accompaniments of royalty with 
none of its cares and troubles. I once saw his son in the 
streets of Calcutta. As he rolled slowly by in his car- 
riage I took particular notice of him. He had an efiem- 
inate, weak face. On his head he wore a crown-like 
head-dress, covered with gold foil and lace. The king 
has an allowance from the English government of $600,- 
000 a year. He does not come near the Government 
House, partly because he is so fat that he cannot move 
about, except in a chair, more probably because he is a 
kind of state prisoner on account of his supposed sym- 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 85 

pathies with the mutiny. A gentleman who was present 
at a reception at the residence of the Governor General, 
thus writes in regard to His Majesty : 

" The old King spends a good share of his income in 
buying animals. He has a collection of snakes, and is 
fond of a peculiar kind of pigeon. A pigeon with a blue 
eye will bring him good fortune, and if one of his Brah- 
min priests tells him that the possession of such a bird 
is necessary to his happiness, he buys it. Recently he 
paid £1,000 for a pigeon on the advice of a holy Brah- 
min, who, it was rumored, had an interest in the sale. 
Not long since, the King made a purchase of tigers, and 
was about to buy a new and choice lot, when the Lieu- 
tenant Governor interfered and said His Majesty had 
tigers enough. My admiration for the kingly office is so 
profound that I like it best in its eccentric aspects, and 
would have rejoiced to have seen so original a majesty. 
But His Majesty is in seclusion with his snakes, his 
tigers, his pigeons, his priests and his women, and sees 
no one, and we had to be content with seeing his son. 
The Prince seemed forlorn with his bauble crown, his 
robes and his gems, and hid behind the pillars and in 
corners of the room, and avoided general conversation, 
Another noted Prince was the descendant of Tippoo 
Soltan, a fall-bodied, eager Moslem Prince, with a flow- 
ing beard and character in the lines of his face. This 
Prince has been in England, talks English well, and is 
a legal subject of the crown." 

At night, the trees surrounding the palace of the old 
monarch were decorated with thousands of Chinese lan- 
terns, and by day the warbling of myriads of feathered 
songsters minister to the pleasure of an obese old king, 
whose dull ear cannot appreciate, and whose dim eyes 



Ob TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

cannot behold the beauties by which he is surrounded. 

In passing a sharp bend near James and Mary's Shoal, 
in tow of the steamer, we struck the edge of a quicksand 
bar. Both hawsers were parted, and the ship turned 
nearly over ; but swinging off with the swift current, the 
sheet anchor was let go with twenty fathoms of chain, 
which checked us for a moment ; the strain was so great, 
however, that the whole cable chain, ninety fathoms in 
length, was torn over the windlass and the ship set on 
fire, and when the chain was all out it tore out the hawse 
pipe and the enormous iron links snapped and were 
riven asunder like threads. The situation was most 
critical, but the pilot did not lose his presence of mind, 
and quietly remarked : " If she does turn over, keep on 
the weather side and when she goes keel up we shall be 
on the bottom until a boat from the Vulean can come to 
our aid." The ship rapidly drifted against another 
shoal and laid over on her beam ends, yard arms in the 
water. It seemed as if our time had come, and the 
slimy yellow water began to roll in on deck, when, 
to the great relief of all, she gradually righted and fell 
off into the main channel in deep water. " Let go the 
starboard anchor," said the pilot as unconcernedly as if 
nothing had occurred of an unusual nature. The ship 
swung head to the current, and we were saved. The day 
before, a fine large ship, homeward bound, struck on the 
same treacherous quicksand, went down and all on board 
were lost. 

The passage of the Hoogly to and from Calcutta usu- 
ally occupies from three to seven days, and is one of 
peculiar danger and hardship. The tides and winds 
have to be taken advantage of, and even by the aid of 
steam it is very hazardous. For a steamer to tow us 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 87 

down the river we had to pay 2,000 rupees, or about 
$1,000 in silver, and the damage incurred in getting on 
shore was five times that amount. When at anchor, a 
man has to stand at the wheel as if at sea. The current 
is so swift that a vessel is in danger of swinging from 
side to side, in which case the cable would soon part and 
she would go ashore. 

At the close of the third day the anchor was let go off 
Saugor Island, where we remained until daylight, when 
the serang blew his whistle and " all hands up anchor " 
was called in Bengalese, which is useless to insert here, 
as it might not sound familiar, but if one will try to 
pronounce the characters imprinted on a tea chest it 
might convey a mild idea of the language used on that 
occasion. 

We were soon underway, and in a few hours passed 
the channel light-ship. The pilot left us and w^e were 
once more at sea. At 8 o'clock the watch was set, and 
from that hour until midnight I had charge of the deck 
for the first time alone. There was a light breeze ahead 
and I walked the quarter deck with a consequential air, 
and said "Luff!" to the man at the wheel in a manner 
intended to convey the idea that the use of such language 
was of common occurrence with me, but as I had to use 
the exclamation in the language before described, and 
first ask the serang what word represented "luff"' in 
that language, it detracted somewhat from the dignity I 
wished to assume, and reminded me that I was but mor- 
tal in spite of my newly-acquired honors. At mid- 
night the first officer was called, and my charge was 
turned over to him with the air of one who was about 
to be relieved of a tremendous responsibility. Later 
years, and a gray hair here and there, have softened such 



88 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

feelings somewhat, and responsibilities fail to elate as in 
youthful days, and when anticipated honors are reached, 
the accompanying trouble and care takes away all the 
pleasure, leaving only the stern, hard line of duty and 
hardship more clearly defined. 

For fifteen days we kept on our way southward with- 
out any incident worthy of note. We had a squall now 
and then, but mostly light and variable winds, and slow 
progress was made. . At last the great sails hung idly 
against the spars, with a slight .rocking motion at times, 
with an occasional flap from the many yards of canvas 
stretched aloft. It was the same old story of scorching 
sun by day, and sultry and sleepless nights. After lying 
idle and helpless for about twenty-four hours, the cry of 
"A shark !" was raised by one of the men on the forecas- 
tle, and sure enough a monstrous fellow came circling 
under the bow, and in a few moments several others 
made their appearance. A large hook baited with a 
piece of pork proved too much of a temptation for one 
of them, and turning on his side he rushed upon it and 
was soon floundering and splashing with the barbed hook 
some two feet down his throat with a chain attached to 
it which he could not bite off. After having a few mo- 
ments allowed him to get tired with such violent con- 
duct, he was hoisted on board, when, lying a short time 
in mute astonishment, he soon began a series of high 
and lofty tumbling that no one would _ believe a fish ca- 
pable of Finally, after chewing up several handspikes 
and getting somewhat weary, one of the Lascars drew 
his keen knife across his body in close proximity to his 
tail and he soon bled to death. His head was then cut 
off and taken possession of by the cook, who kept his 
jaws with their triple row of teeth to adorn his sanc^. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 89 

turn, the galley, Tlie galley is the ship's kitchen and 
there presides the sable African, the cook, called com- 
monly by the men, the "doctor." This functionary has 
but few associates, aud generally reigns supreme among 
his pots and kettles. Occasionally he condescends to sit 
at his galley door during the dog-watch and listen to the 
yarns of the men, among whom he is an oracle. He 
sometimes has a pet pig, and in that case ail his affection 
is bestowed on that object, for a negro loves a hog, 
both in this life and after death. I have read, aud be- 
lieve it true, that no one can fathom the affection of a 
darkey for a pig. 

After two calm days a light breeze once more filled 
the drooping sails, and the ship went rippling along 
some five knots an hour. A ship was signaled far 
away and proved to be the H. M. Hayes, of Boston, 
bound to Mauritius. Shoals of flying fish kept rising 
from the water, and, skipping along the surface, 
would disappear, and again rise a few yards further on. 
At night they sometimes flew on board, seemingly at- 
tracted by the lights on deck. 

The flying fish is similar in appearance to a mackerel 
and has transparent Avings, or fins that answer that pur- 
pose, and is very good as an article of food. They are 
the favorite prey of the dolphin and other voracious 
fishes, who will chase them for a long distance, aud 
generally capture the poor little fish, notwithstanding 
all his efforts to escape. When pursued by the fi)es of 
their race the flying fish goes skipping over the water 
hundreds of yards at a time, dipping his wings for an 
instant in the water, and again skimming through the 
air ; now changing his course to elude his enemy, then 
flying off" in the opposite direction, but all in vain, as 



90 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

the progress of the dolphin perceptibly decreases the 
distance between them, and the least deviation in the 
course of the winged tenant of the deep is discovered by- 
its inveterate pursuer, when he takes a leap into the air 
as if to ascertain the fact. At length the strength of 
the flying fish fails him ; when he dips into the water he 
does not rise so nimbly. His every succeeding flight 
is shorter, and the dolphin is close to his prey. In ter- 
ror the flying fish again takes wing, but the untired dol- 
phin, which appears to have calculated the strength of 
his victim, and the distance of its last flight, has already 
reached the spot, and, instead of dipping into the water, 
it is received into the open mouth of its relentless foe, 
who, nowise fatigued by his late exertions, stretches out 
again in pursuit of other flying victims. 

In thirty days we were once more near the equator. 
The harbor of Colombo, lying on the west side of the 
island of Ceylon, it Avas necessary for us to sail well to 
the south and east to take advantage of the prevailing 
winds. We were becalmed a few days and drifted back 
and forth, crossing the equator four times in as many 
days, when a light and favoring breeze enabled us to 
bear up for our destined haven. A few more days and 
nights wore away and our reckoning showed we were 
nearing Point de Galle, which is one of the southern 
capes of Ceylon.* Night came on, and under shortened 
canvas we stood cautiously in. At midnight the fore- 
topsail was laid aback and we hove to waiting for day- 
light. The ship rose and fell on the waves, and the 
breeze from off" the land was laden with odors from the 
cinnamon groves. 

"The spicy gales of the tropics" are not all imaginary 
and I have often known the perfume of the flowers to 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 



91 



be wafted over the ocean long before land appeared. 
On some parts of the coast of Africa a peculiar dust 
sprinkles the sails of vessels many leagues from land. 

In the darkness the sound of oars was heard, and as 
the splashing in the water grew more distinct the serang 
hailed, "Who comes ?" The sound of rowing ceased, and 
a voice answered, "Sahib." The gangway ladder was 
lowered over the side, and stepping from his light cata- 
maran, a dusky Cingalese came nimbly up the ladder, 
and making a profound salam, inquired in good Eng- 
lish the name and nationality of the ship. 




92 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST I OK, 



CHAPTER XIL 



CEYLON THE PILOT CINGALESE BOATS PEARL 

FISHERY DECEPTIVE HEATHEN PREPARE 

FOR SEA — SEASON OF TYPHOONS. 



sITH the dawn of day we filled away and stood in 
for the harbor on the west side of the island ; 
about noon a negro pilot came on board, who 
was very consequential and filled with his own 
importance, giving his orders to the man at the wheel 
in a manner that would have brought down the house at 
Dan. Bryant's, but as the harbor of Colombo is simply 
an open roadstead not much skill in maneuvering a ves- 
sel was expected from him, and he was only taken on 
board to comply with the law and usage. When the 
vessel had arrived among the other shipping, he sud- 
denly ordered, "Let go the anchor, Sah," with the ship 
still under full headway ; this aroused the bile in the old 
captain to such a degree that he roared out, "Hold on to 
everything!" "Haul in the weather fore-braces and 
stand by the anchor !" The African looked ineffably 
disgusted and left the quarter deck with an air of injur- 
ed innocence. As soon as the ship's headway was stop- 
ped the anchor was let go, sails furled, yards squared by 
lifts and braces, and we lay quietly at rest after a pas- 
sage of thirty-two days from Calcutta. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 98 

A boat was soon alongside and several natives came 
on board. From their frequent intercouse with Ameri- 
can and English vessels some of them spoke "pigeon" 
English, which name is applied to those who speak that 
language imperfectly. They brought fruit, carved work, 
articles of jewelry and shells. The pearl fisheries are 
located on the coast, being the largest and most valuable 
in the world. Precious stones also abound in the inte- 
rior, and it is surprising with what exquisite taste the 
natives prepare and set them. 

The Island of Ceylon is one of singular beauty and 
interest. The centre of the pearl fishery, precious gems 
and metals in its mines, groves of cinnamon trees, large 
coflfee plantations, with towering mountain peaks, go to 
make up a picture which would be the delight of the 
lover of the beautiful in nature. 

It is also the home of the colossal elephant, and the 
natives have trained him to be literally "a hewer of 
wood and drawer of water." 

As soon as the necessary preparations were completed, 
we began to discharge our cargo of rice into enormous 
lighters. The shipping being some two miles from the 
town, all communication was by boat. The natives, 
called Cingalese, were small, finely-formed people, very 
active and intelligent; their features regular, with beau- 
tifiil teeth, except in some instances where ruined by the 
long-continued use of the betel nut, which one kindly 
offered me, and on putting it in my mouth I found it 
rather acrid, but by no means unpleasant, having none of 
the nauseating qualities of tobacco. It was prepared 
by rolling a betel leaf in the shape of a cone, inside 
of which was placed a little lime, nutmeg and a clove- 
Long-continued use stains the teeth to a permanent red,. 



94 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

and finally destroys them by the action of the lime on 
the enamel. All the young natives seemed to take pride 
in having good teeth, and always scrubbed them after 
eating with a piece of cocoanut husk dipped in water. 

The wealthier classes seemed to be a different sort of 
people from those who labored at discharging the cargo. 
The merchants wore a peculiar dress, which looked like 
a wrapper made from old-fashioned chintz bed curtains, 
with all manner of birds and flowers stamped thereon ; 
their hair was worn long and tied up behind in a knot, 
and fastened with a tortoise-shell comb. They were 
effeminate heathen, took great airs upon themselves, and, 
much to my surprise, one addressed me as follows : 

"To whom is your cargo consigned ?" which was pure 
English, being accompanied by the flutter of a fan, 
which any lady might have envied. I had begun a con- 
versation with the interesting Cingalese, when his ser- 
vant came over the gangway and made a salam. Bow- 
ing gracefully and daintily lifting the skirts of his varie- 
gated wrapper with jeweled fingers, and with the com- 
mon heathen holding an enormous umbrella over him, 
he entered his boat and was rowed ashore. 

Their boats are built head and stern alike, and have 
an outrigger, upon which they send a man to sit if the 
breeze be very strong, and sometimes two or three are 
perched on them if in danger of turning over. By sim- 
ply shifting the sail, they sail backwards or forwards 
without "going about." 

The pearl fishery is carried on during the spring 
months, and employs a fleet of about two hundred and 
fifty boats. The pearl oysters are much larger than 
our own, but similar in appearance outwardly. They 
are found in beds some three or more miles in length 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 95 

and of the same breadth, at a depth of from three to fif- 
teen fathoms water. The principal fishery is the north- 
west coast of the island. One oyster sometimes con- 
tains as many as fifty pearls, though in that case they 
are small and of but little value. 

The divers commence their operations in the morning 
and work about six hours ; two divers are appointed to 
each diving rope, who relieve each other alternately. 
An expert diver will descend to the bottom and, in the 
short space of one minute, if the oysters lay thick, will 
collect about one hundred in his basket. The diver 
then makes a signal, by pulling the rope to which the 
basket is attached, and is immediately pulled to the sur- 
face by those in the boat, he himself coming up "hand 
over hand" by the diving rope, reaching the surface 
generally before the basket, where he floats about till his 
turn comes to dive again. 

When the boats return to land, the oysters are piled 
in heaps in the sun to decompose, and strictly guarded. 
After some days the oysters and shells are separated and 
washed ; the pearls being all collected and sifted through 
sieves of various sizes are then bored and strung, when 
they are taken to market and disposed of. 

The natives are very jealous of fine pearls and jewels, 
and will not dispose of them unless compelled by abso- 
lute want to do so. They are extremely artful also in 
counterfeiting them, and produce mock pearls and gems 
that would deceive any but an expert. The writer was 
made the victim of misplaced confidence in a shameful 
manner. Bargaining for a necklace, it w^as brought on 
board to me. I paid the hard-earned gold for it and 
carefully put it aw^ay ; a few days afterward I asked a 
native expert to look at it and tell me its value. Lay- 



96 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

ing it across his long, thin fingers, and with a sardonic 
grin, he remarked in "pigeon English :" "Melican man 
get foole, him no goode, all rice," and it so proved, for 
my precious pearls were but a worthless string of rice 
beads. 

During our stay quite a commotion was made by a 
wealthy Englishman, who was almost frantic with rage 
and grief at his loss : A very large pearl of the first 
water had been fished up, and it was held at a 
very high figure by its possessor. After a great 
deal of bargaining it was purchased by the gentleman 
before mentioned, who took great pleasure in showing it 
to his acquaintances and also to wealthy natives who 
wished very much to get it, but declining all oflfers he 
exulted in the possession of such a treasure ; in a few 
days the natives ceased to call on him and did not ask 
to see it as they had often been in the habit of doing, 
which aroused his suspicions, and on consulting with 
a good judge of the article he was told his purchase was 
worthless. He had purchased a genuine and very valu- 
able pearl, the natives had repeatedly examined it, and 
making a successful counterfeit thereof had exchanged 
with him. He appeared to be a mild-mannered sort of 
man, but when last seen, like Saul of Tarsus, was 
"breathing out threatenings and slaughter" against the 
"blarsted heathen, you know," and as he declaimed, like 
Domosthenes of old, to the breakers on the beach, the 
eflfect was striking. Swelling with apoplectic rage, his 
coat-tails fluttering in the gentle evening breeze, I left 
him telling his story to the "waves that kissed the 
strand." A "fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind," and 
my sympathy went out to him, for I had been a victim 
to the same heathenish deception. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 97 

During our stay a circus from far off America gave 
a performance, and every one, from the English gov- 
ernor down to the poor oyster diver, were in attendance. 
The programmes were printed on yellow silk and headed 
"Vivat Eegina." The circus was a very tame affair, but 
the audience was certainly a most attractive spectacle. 
The post band was in attendance and opened and closed 
the performance by the usual "God save the Queen." 
The governor and his wife, and wives of regimental 
officers in full dress, native princes with jeweled turbans, 
and clad in gay garments, female beauties with great 
strings of pearls around their dusky necks, and massive 
gold rings set with emeralds in their noses, made a bril- 
liant scene never to be forgotten. 

After discharging our cargo we waited several days 
for a freight to offer. There seemed to be a prejudice 
against American ships, and of over thirty vessels not 
one flew the American flag except ours. All lay at 
anchor in the roadstead, and on the government build- 
ing ashore was a flag-staff; upon the hoisting of a signal 
all vessels were required to slip their cables and put to 
sea. The signal is hoisted in case of a storm, and all 
who neglect to slip and run for the open sea are subject 
to heavy fine, and are almost sure of shipwreck. 

Ceylon once belonged to the Dutch, but like most of 
their possessions in the Indies, has passed into the hands 
of the English. The principal agricultural products 
are cofiee and cinnamon. Most of the heavy labor on 
shore is performed by elephants, and it is wonderful to 
witness the intelligence of the dumb monsters who seem 
to be endowed with reasoning powers. 

Time slowly wore away until October, when it was 
decided to seek a cargo and sail for some port in the 



98 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

Chinese Sea, touching at Singapore, and perhaps Suma- 
tra, to try the markets. So we began to take in ballast, 
which consisted of sand, and many lighter loads 
were brought from the shore and thrown in the lower 
hold, and as it contained centipedes and other venom- 
ous insects, peculiar to tropical climates, about thirty 
native pigs were purchased and put into the hold to root 
it over and destroy them. After completing the task 
assigned to them, in which they certainly used due 
diligence, as they were allowed no other food, the ballast 
was covered with boards, w^hich were w^ell secured to 
guard against danger in case of a storm. 

Many of the crew deserted, and it became necessary 
to ship half a crew of white sailors. So one watch was 
composed of natives and the other of Europeans. 

Affairs seemed to get mixed in the long India voyages. 
When we left England our rigging was Manila rope, 
but as it became worn and unfit for use, it was replaced 
by rope of eastern manufacture, called coir, (pronounc- 
ed ki-ar), which is rough, kinky stuff, and feels as if it 
was made of pins and needles in cold weather. After it 
has been in use some time it wears smooth ; and when 
dry, is soft and pliable. Ropes in our country, and in 
the rest of the civilized world are laid up or twisted 
right-handed, but the Hindoo heathen prefer it the other 
way, and the twist of their cordage is left-handed. Al- 
most everything seems to be done wrong end foremost, 
and if a carpenter wishes to saw in two a piece of wood, 
he rubs it against the saw instead of rubbing the saw 
against the wood. As they are our antipodes geographi- 
ically, it seems natural for them to be so in other par- 
ticulars, but doubtless some of our customs look very 
absurd to them. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 



99 



When our white crew came on board I was rejoiced 
to see that most of them were Dutchmen — than whom 
no better sailors live. They were stout, active men, 
and could all do their duty, which was comforting, for 
the season of the dreaded typhoons was at hand, and we 
were going to sea in ballast. 




100 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 



CHAPTER XIII. 



FALLING BAROMETER THE CAPTAIN UNDERWEIGH- 

DESCRIPTION OF TYPHOON — INDICATIONS OF 
TROUBLE — AWAITING OUR FATE. 



"Determined from whatever point they rise, 
To trust his fortune to the seas and skies." 

HJUHE weather looked unsettled. With a rapidly fall- 
^& ing barometer we had cause for grave apprehen- 
A sions. If caught in a typhoon it would have gone 
hard with us. The crew being on board, and as 
we should have to put to sea in case of a storm, the cap- 
tain decided to get underway. He had lived on shore 
during our stay, and came off in a native boat, and 
when alongside several bags of silver were brought on 
board and put into the cabin, which was to purchase 
cargo at ports where we might call, in case no good 
freights offered. It was evident by the look and man- 
ner of the captain that he was uneasy in regard to the 
weather. He was not a gentle person to deal with, and 
his language not at all times such as it should be, but 
he was a thoroughly practical seaman, and, in the hour 
of danger, cool and collected, handling his ship under 
all circumstances in a manner that showed him to be 
master of that part of his calling at least. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 101 

"Blunt was his speech, and naked was his heart; 
Alike to him each climate and each blast, 
The first in danger, in retreat the last; 
No fear of storms the master's soul restrain, 
A captive fettered to the oar of gain ;" 

"Loose the topsails and man the windlass !" said the 
captain as he entered the cabin, from whence he soon re- 
appeared. "Aye, aye, sir," said the mate who repeat- 
ed the order. The nimble Lascars ran up the rigging, a 
cloud of canvas fell from the heavy topsail yards, the 
chain sheets rattled through the yard arms, and when 
fairly home, "Belay !" was ordered (meaning to make 
fast). "Man the topsail halyards !" The yards slowly 
rose to the topmast head, and the enormous sails flapped 
in the breeze. The windlass clanked, and the mate 
standing on the weather cathead soon reported to the 
captain on the quarter. "Anchor's aweigh, sir." "Aye, 
aye," said the captain, "Brace round the headyards," 
and — ^we were slowly leaving the harbor of Colombo. 
The foresail was then set, gradually more canvas spread, 
and in a few hours only the lofty peak of Ceylon's 
highest mountain could be seen. 

After being at sea several days it became evident a 
storm was brewing. The weather looked threatening 
and the sky had an ugly look, and many indications led 
us to believe that the hour of trial was near at hand. 
The time for the breaking up of the monsoons had 
come and a typhoon could be expected. A resident of 
Madras gives the following interesting account of a storm 
which occurred there during the shifting of these winds, 
the monsoons : 

"On the fifteenth of October the flag-staff was struck, 
as a signal for all vessels to leave the roads, lest they 
should be overtaken bv the storm. On that verv morn- 



102 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OK, 

ing some premonitory symptoms of the approaching 
war of elements had appeared. As the house we occu- 
pied overlooked the beach, we could behold the setting 
of the monsoon in all its grand and terrific sublimity. 
The winds, with a force which nothing could resist, bent 
the tufted heads of the tall, slim cocoanut trees almost 
to the earth, flinging the light sand into the air in eddy- 
ing vortices, until the rain had either so increased its 
gravity or beaten it into a mass, as to prevent the wind 
from raising it. 

"The pale lightning streamed from the clouds in broad 
sheets of flame, which appeared to circle the heavens as 
if every element had been converted into fire and the 
world was on the eve of a general conflagration ; whilst 
the peal, which instantly followed, was like the explo- 
sion of a powder magazine. The heavens seemed to be 
one vast reservoir of flame, which was propelled from 
its voluminous bed by some invisible but omnipotent 
agency, and threatening to fling its fiery ruin upon 
everything around. 

"In some parts, however, of the pitchy vapor, by 
which the skies were by this time completely over- 
spread, the lightning was seen only occasionally to glim- 
mer in faint streaks of light, as if struggling, but una- 
ble to escape from its prison, igniting, but too weak to 
burst the impervious bosoms of those capacious maga- 
zines in which it was at once engendered and pent up. 

"So heavy and continuous was the rain that scarcely 
anything was seen save those vivid bursts of light which 
nothing could arrest or resist. The thunder was so 
painfully loud, that it frequently caused the ear to throb; 
it seemed as if mines were momentarily springing in the 
heavens, and I could almost fancv that one of the sub- 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 103 

limest fictions of heathen fable was realized at this mo- 
ment before me, and that I was hearing an assault of the 
Titans. The surf was raised by the wind and scattered 
in thin .billows of foam over the esplanade, which was 
completely powdered with the white, feathery spray. It 
extended several hundred yards from the beach ; fish 
upwards of three inches long, were found upon the flat 
roofs of houses in the town during the prevalence of the 
monsoon, either blown from the sea by the violence 
of the gale, or taken up in the water spouts, which are 
very prevalent in this tempestuous season. 

"When these burst, whatever they contain is frequently 
borne by the sweeping blast to considerable distance over- 
land, and deposited in the most uncongenial situation, so 
that now, during the violence of these tropical storms, 
fish are found alive on the tops of houses ; nor is this 
any longer a matter of surprise to the established resi- 
dent in India, who sees, every year, a repetition of this 
singular phenomenon. During the extreme violence of 
the storm the heat was occasionally almost beyond 
endurance, particularly after the first day or two, when 
the wind would at intervals entirely subside, so that not 
a breath of air could be felt, and the punka afforded but 
a partial relief to that distressing sensation, which is 
caused by the oppressive stillness of the air so well 
known in India." 

Two weeks passed away after leaving Ceylon, and in 
spite of variable winds and calms, we had made a good 
run to the eastward, and were nearing the Malay Chan- 
nel, and had already sighted some of the Nicobar 
Islands, when we were arrested by light winds and calms. 
We had been making the best use of every little breeze, 
and could, in a few days, have reached Acheen, or run 



104 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; Oic, 

down the channel to Singapore. The situation was pecu- 
liarly trying, and the weather still looked bad. The 
barometer rose and fell in a manner indicating some 
great atmospheric disturbance. 

The sky wore a brassy, sickly hue, and when the sun 
set there was a dull, coppery halo encircling him. A few 
native vessels were sighted, and they had made every 
preparation for stormy weather, and not a soul was to 
be seen on their decks. Some of their customs are pe- 
culiar in this respect. On board their small craft when 
night comes on, they take in all sail, let go their anchor 
with about fifteen fathoms of cable attached, and then 
go below for the night, knowing that if their craft drift 
into shoal water she will be brought to anchor without 
effort on their part. They foretell the coming of a storm 
with great certainty, and it is a remarkable fact that 
they are always prepared, and when a native craft is 
seen in the daytime under short sail it is very safe to 
follow their example. 

After sunset and during the last dog watch (from 6 to 
8 o'clock p. m.,) the light sails were taken in, and when 
eight bells struck, "All hands shorten sail," was ordered. 
Both watches were on deck and but little time was nec- 
essary for preparation. The wind was light but baffling, 
yet there were indications of trouble, and a dread fore- 
boding seemed to hang over the spirits of all and make 
a command to perform some duty welcome, and the men 
sprang up the rigging in a manner that showed their 
appreciation of the approaching war of elements, and 
the necessity of having everything snug alow and aloft. 

By 9 o'clock the ship was under close reefed topsails 
and reefed foresail, having hardly steerage way through 
the water under such short sail. There seemed still to 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 105 

be an ominous dread, and the usual words of command 
were spoken quietly, and rapidly and silently obeyed, 
and when the labor of shortening sail was over, the 
watch, whose turn it was below, remained on deck. The 
heat was intense ; the ship swayed and rocked idly, and 
the helmsman held the wheel without moving it, as it was 
needless to do so. The night was dark, and there seem- 
ed to be no clouds. No stars appeared. A black pall 
seemed spread above, and soon enclosed us on every 
side. It soon became thick darkness like that of old 
in Egypt "that might be felt." Little rays of light 
streamed out from the cabin deadlights and were lost in 
the impenetrable gloom. The binnacle light flashed full 
in the face of the idle but anxious helmsman, and dilated 
and rendered ghastly his features in a manner painful to 
look upon. Ever and anon the old captain would ap- 
proach the wheel, gazing down at the compass, and the 
stern hard lines of his face could be plainly seen while 
the rest of his person was invisible. Occasionally a faint 
streak of light appeared in the east, so faint, however, 
that the line of the horizon could not be defined, and 
instantly died away ; soon a moaning sound came sweep- 
ing over the deep, but no one could tell from whence it 
came. It seemed to die out before reaching us, or rise 
in the air and pass high overhead. From the tenebrous 
and unseen concave above the demons of the storm were 
holding solemn conclave, and I could imagine their 
voices could be heard, and of life's many trying scenes 
that long, long night of suspense was one of the most 
trying. A sailor came noiselessly along the lee side of 
the quarter deck, without orders, and stood by the 
wheel, though there was no need of his assistance. Most 
of the men came aft and stood around the fore part of 



106 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

the cabin, and if anyone spoke it was in low and subdued 
tones. The poor frightened natives huddled together 
over the main hatchway and were busy with their pray- 
ers. 

"Take in the mizzen topsail and the foresail !" said 
the captain in a low voice. The foresail was hauled up 
and the topsail clewed up. The men disappeared aloft 
and after a short time came down one by one, and again 
silently gathered in front of the forward cabin. 

"I tink der skipper vas understand hi& pissness," said 
a big Dutch sailor. 

"Jah (pronounced yaw), dot vas yust so," answered a 
companion. 

"Dere vas been drubbles mit der vind und him ploe& 
like dunder and blitzen." 

"Vat you knows about der vind ? Sometimes he ploe& 
like ter spuyten tuyvel mit notings in der schy, und 
den ven der schy look plack he ploes no more, und 
stchop." 

This dialogue was cut short by the bell striking the 
midnight hour. 

"The barometer is still falling," said the captain to 
the mate. He was about to add something more, when 
the moaning sound again came over the waters and died 
away. It seemed nearer than before. All were silent^ 
and we stood waiting our fate. 




RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 107 



CHAPTEK XIY. 



THE TYPHOON "SAIL HO !" PERILOUS SITUATION 

CUT AWAY THE MAST LONG NIGHT 

GALE ABATES SLEEP. 



"Cimmerian darkness shades the deep around, 
Save when the lightning's in terrific blaze, 

Deluge the cheerless gloom with horrid rays ; 
Above, all ether fraught with scenes of woe." 

|iipHE ship was now under very short sail, having 
J^ only the fore and main-topsails set close reefed, 
111 and the fore stay sail. About two bells, (one hour 
after midnight), a low, moaning sound crept over 
the ocean for the third time, and the rushing of wind 
and sound of falling water could be heard, and in a few 
moments the gale was piping dolefully through the rig- 
ging, and the rain fell, at first in great drops, then in 
torrents. The gust came suddenly, and as suddenly 
passed aAvay, lasting not more than half an hour, but 
blowing with great violence. As soon as it was over the 
captain ordered the fore-topsail taken in, and before it 
could be fairly clewed up and furled we had another 
blast coming from the north-east; and the men had hard 
work to keep from being blown from the rigging as 
they crept aloft. This also passed away as the first fierce 
blast had done, only it seemed to continue a little 



108 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

longer. It had hardly abated when the order was given 
"Man the Aveather main-topsail clewline !" The rope 
was led along the deck and grasped by fifteen powerful 
seamen, the sheet cautiously eased off, which made the 
sparks fly from the yard arm, and the clew of the top- 
sail drawn up to the yard. 

"Lay aloft and pass a gasket round the weather yard 
arm," said the mate. 

Taking six of the best able seamen we hurried aloft 
and passed the gaskets around the sail and yard making 
everything secure. The wind came in spiteful gusts, 
and we had hard work to hold on ; the spray from the 
waves was taken up and hurled in our faces, and my 
hair whipped against my cheeks, making them burn and 
tingle, the force of the wind was so great. Watching 
our opportunity we got off the yard and made our way 
down the rigging one by one. The ship was now under 
almost bare poles, the only sail set being the "goose- 
winged" main topsail and fore-staysail. 

The wind which at first had come from the eastward 
now veered more toward the north, and the gusts had 
kept coming in shorter intervals, so that by daylight it 
was blowing a steady gale and all the time with increas- 
ing violence. The storm, like all such, was revolving 
and a typhoon, and we were, judging by the height of 
the barometer which stood at 29.80, within its outer cir- 
cle, and the vortex about one hundred miles distant, near 
which no ship could live. The ship was hove to on the 
port tack, that by this means we might gradually drift 
away from the impending danger. 

By"'noon the gale was terrific, and the ship laid over 
so that her yard arms were in the water, and there was 
little hope of seeing another day in this world. Look- 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 109 

ing through the weather scupper holes, the angry hori- 
zon could be seen in the distance, and the sea appeared 
to be almost flattened down by the force of the wind. If 
any of the waves were broken, the spray w^as lifted and 
hurled away in long thin sheets until it disappeared in 
mist far away to leeward. 

"Sail ho!" cried one of the men, as he clung close 
under the w^eather railing, and rising apparently from 
the sea, and in bold relief against the black and leaden 
sky, a large French ship appeared under our lee with 
topsails blown away and hove to on the starboard tack, 
with a tarpaulin in her mizzen rigging. Watching 
closely with the glass as she came surging past, the stern 
was lifted by the sea, and the name Leone could be seen 
thereon. The ill-fated vessel was on the wrong tack, and 
nearing the centre of the hurricane. She was never 
heard from, and a few^ months after was posted at 
Lloyd's Marine Agency, " Gone doivn with all on board." 
Had her master heeded the rules laid down in the laws 
of storms, and hove to on the proper tack, his vessel 
would have been all the time drifting from the storm 
centre and might have been saved, as she was a fine 
large ship and in good sailing trim. 

The gale hourly increased and the yard arms were 
sinking deeper in the water ; the ship did not rise at all, 
but seemed bound down and gradually sinking, and un- 
less some relief was near at hand the hours for us in this 
world would soon be numbered. At times, from below 
came an ominous sound as of timbers breaking, but no 
one dared to go or look to see from whence such sounds 
of dire import came or ascertain the cause thereof. The 
captain occasionally went to his room in the cabin, and 
several times his head appeared as he looked up the 



110 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

companion way, and looking as if he wished to speak. 
No sound could be heard amid the roaring of such a 
tempest. Holding on to the weather railing, and exert- 
ing all my strength to get near him, with his hand at 
his side he cautiously beckoned me to follow him to the 
cabin. Creeping down the steps, and holding on the 
brass railing to keep an upright position, he leaned to- 
wards me, and, with his face close to mine, he said : 

"Young man, will you go below in the lower hold — 
and tell me what is taking place there ?" 

His manner and appearance cannot be described, but 
common danger seemed to make us equal, and as he laid 
his hand on my shoulder his voice became tremulous 
and husky, but he could not frame further coherent 
words, and for the first time, with death staring us in 
the face, the proud and domineering old sailor was con- 
quered, and I the only witness. The Book of Common 
Prayer lay in his berth, also, pictures of his wife and 
children. Turning from him and gaining the deck, I 
made my way as best I could to the after hatchway and 
descended to the regions below. With a shudder and 
faint at heart I threw both arms around the Sampson 
post and step by step entered the dark abyss. It was 
like going into some deep pit that had never been ex- 
plored. Upcm reaching the foot of the stanchion in the 
lower hold I looked up, and far above through the hatch- 
way came a dim ray of light and the roaring of the 
storm could be plainly heard. I then crept along the 
inner side of the vessel's hull and alone beheld the sight 
that assured me that the worst was about to be realized. 

The wooden planking that confined the sand ballast 
was slowly giving way, and the sand was as slowly, but 
surely, working its way over towards the lee side, and in 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. Ill 

a few moments we should go down. Comprehending 
the situation at a glance, I lost no time in making my 
way to the deck, and sought the captain in his cabin. 

"Well ?" said he, with the word choking in his throat. 

" The ballast is shifting, sir!" I said. 

He bowed his head for a moment as if stunned by the 
revelation, and then, recovering his self possession, 
sought the deck, wdth myself following close behind, and 
as we w^ent up the companion way he handed me an 
axe which was secured there. 

Two or three men who were sheltered under the lee of 
the weather railing crept aft at a signal from the captain, 
who beckoned to them ; others began to emerge from 
all out-of-the-way places and clustered aft as far as 
they could and held on by the railing. The mate let go 
the mizzen running rigging on the weather side ; the 
spanker sheet was let go and the boom swung out into 
the water. The captain motioned to me to cut the 
weather mizzen rigging. I struck the lanyards of the 
royal back-stay with the axe ; they were taut (stretched 
to their utmost tension) as a bar of iron, and quickly 
snapped asunder. The top-gallant back-stay, went at the 
next blow, which made the mast droop, but it did not 
break. The topmast back-stays were then cut, and the 
heavy shrouds soon followed, and, with a crash,the mizzen- 
mast broke short off near the deck and fell in the water, 
tearing away the whole lee quarter railing as it went. 
It seemed to ease the ship a little, but there was not a 
moment to be lost as she was nearly on her beam ends. 

"Cut away the main rigging," said the captain, or 
rather a gesture from him indicated that wish. It blew 
so hard the human voice was useless. We crept along 
and hacked away at the heavy shrouds and back-stays. 



112 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

The lee rigging could not be reached, as it was so far un- 
der water. As soon as the main rigging was partly sev- 
ered the great mainmast broke off below the top and fell 
with a thundering crash, taking lee railing and timber 
heads away, and as it fell the ship rose suddenly from 
her watery bed, snapping off the fore-topmast just below 
the cross-trees, and carrying away the jibboom at the bow- 
sprit cap, and with the sea roaring around us, the rigging 
and broken spars chafing and tearing against the side, 
we lay a hopeless wreck. 

The ship righted considerably, but the sea rolled in on 
us and it was hard work to keep from being washed 
overboard, and all of us at once set to work to cut away 
the lee rigging that held the broken masts and spars that 
were tearing the sides to pieces, and finally succeeded in 
doing so. 

Night again came on and still the tempest roared 
around, and all preferred to stay on deck drenched with 
water, than go below. The gale showed no signs of abat- 
ing and the hours slowly passed, the long, long night 
seemed endless. No bell was struck, no food cooked, no 
watch set, and grim despair seemed to have possession of 
every heart. An occasional flash of lightning, which lit 
up the angry waters with a lurid glare and seemed to 
wrap the whole ship in flame, and then instantaneously 
followed by an explosion of thunder like a battery of 
field pieces fired simultaneously, was the only variation 
during the long, black night. But daylight came at last, 
and we crept about by life-lines stretched along the deck 
and looked at each other, but no one spoke. About the 
middle of the forenoon of the third dreadful day the 
wind ceased, but the situation was infinitely worse, as the 
sea rose and brnke over an unmanageable hulk, and 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO IXDL^. 113 

there was great danger that she would fill and go down. 
This state of aflairs lasted perhaps two hours, when the 
gale again broke forth in all its fury, blowing until sun- 
set hour, when it gradually abated, and at midnight 
there was no wind and the heayy sea breaking over 
us. 

The strain had been too much to bear on mind and 
body. Regardless of sinking ship and raging sea, we 
secured each other with pieces of rope and slept so 
soundly that nothing but the last trump could have 
awakened us. 

When roused from sleep — which was about the 
hour of noon — it was hard to realize that I was in this 
world. Looking aloft at the stumps of our broken 
masts, and then the sea, curling lazily in blue and regu- 
lar waves ; the sun shone brightly, and the air seemed 
fresh and pure ; but there Avas little time for reflection, 
and on attempting to move my cramped and stiffened 
limbs, was painfully reminded that it was a matter that 
must be tried gradually, but after making several eff'orts, 
at last succeeded in rising. It at last began to dawn on 
my confused intellect that the storm was over, and that 
we were saved. Still the situation was critical, and there 
were many days and nights of trouble yet before us. 
Soon we went to work to clear away the wreck, and what 
we did and the further dangers and perils that awaited 
us will be related in due course, but almost the first 
thought after our deliverance seemed to be to refresh the 
inner man, and well it might be so, for most of us had 
fasted for nearly three days and nights. 

The smoke issued from the galley ftmnel, and the 
hungry and weary men gathered about the door, and 
soon, with a pot of hot coffee each, together with salt beef 



114 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

and hard bread, which was shared alike by all, fore and 
aft, we contemplated the labor of getting in sailing trim 
to enable us to reach some port and repair our shattered 
bark. 

Soon after our repast was completed, the captain said 
to the mate : 

"Set the foresail." 




RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 115 



CHAPTER XY. 



DEPLORABLE CONDITION ASCERTAIN OUR POSITION 

SUSPICIOUS CRAFT LACONIC AND PROFANE 

SPEECH "el ULTIMA HORA" PIRATES 

THE ATTACK THE DEFENSE UN- 
LOOKED FOR DELIVERANCE. 



"Though great the danger, and the task severe, 

Yet bow not to the tyranny of fear; 
If once that slavish yoke your souls subdue, 

Adieu to hope ! to life itself, adieu !" 

§ij^O a person not familiar with ships and the sea, 
rffe our situation would certainly appear deplorable, 
ql^ but a seafaring man only could fully realize our 
^ condition Avhen the typhoon was over. 
The mizzen and mainmasts gone, the fore-topmast car- 
ried away and the jibboom broken oif, making it im- 
possible to set sail enough to move through the water, 
except with a stiff breeze, and the ship careened over so 
that the water washed in on deck on the starboard side, 
while the railing and bulwarks on that side were also 
torn away. There was so much w^ork to do that it was 
difficult to tell where to begin. How^ever, as soon as the 
foresail was set, the fore-topsail yard being left, we set 
that sail close reefed over it, and- hoisted the fore 
staysail, or a jib which we bent in its place, that sail 
having been blown away. With this sail the ship slowly 



116 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

dragged through the water, and then all hands who could 
be spared from the deck went below, and by moving 
water tanks and cable chains from the starboard to the 
port side we succeeded in getting nearly an upright po- 
sition. The carpenter with a few men then went to work 
and secured the ballast. The pumps were sounded and 
considerable water found to be in the hold, which took 
several hours hard work to reduce, but by sunset it was 
all out, and the weary men lay about the deck, while the 
ship slowly and tediously dragged along. There was no 
canvas to set and none to furl, and during the night 
nearly all the men could sleep. 

From an observation the second day our position was 
found to be about two hundred miles north-west of the 
Malay Channel and the Island of Sumatra ; it w^as the 
intention of the captain to bear up for the mouth of the 
Hoogly River, where we could get steam and be towed 
up to Calcutta and refit, but the passage was, of neces- 
sity, a long and tedious one. There were other ports 
much nearer, but the repairs required would have been 
much more expensive, and the prevailing winds being 
ahead, it would have been impossible to reach any of 
them. 

We sent up a spare topmast forward, and could 
set a whole topsail over the foresail, and when the wind 
was fair and blowing fresh, tolerable headway could be 
made ; we also rigged up a sail on the mainmast, and 
had all kinds of extemporized sails, so that the best 
could be made of the breeze, but the weather was calm 
for days, and but little progress made. 

One calm morning three Malay proas with their huge 
lateen sails were seen idly rocking on the water two or 
three miles away, and their appearance caused not a lit- 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 117 

tie anxiety, as the piratical heathen would cut our throats 
for the sake of the buttons on our shirts. The captain 
looked at them often through his glass, and from his 
manner seemed anxious and ill at ease. Looking through 
the glass at the nearest boat, there were about fifty men 
on board, which was rather too large a crew for a peace- 
ful trader. The villains had observed our crippled con- 
dition, and hovered near ready to board and murder us 
should opportunity offer. We could see that their ves- 
sels gradually approached each other, but whether de- 
signedly or not we were in ignorance. At last, however, 
they all came together, and w^e could see that men were 
being transferred from the smaller vessels to the largest 
one. Their vessels then gradually drifted apart, and the 
largest proa lowered her sail and got out twenty oars on 
each side. She was filled with men ! The oars rose 
and fell, and her prow was turned to where we, becalm- 
ed and helpless, lay. We had been spared in the storm 
to die, perhaps, a still more horrid death ! The captain 
stood on the quarter deck gazing long and steadily at 
the advancing boat! At last, taking the glass from his 
eye, he said in a quiet voice to the mate : 

"Mr. Vangs, call all hands aft !" 

The men came promptly and arranged themselves in 
front of the cabin. 

"Men," said he, in a firm voice, and pointing to the 
advancing proa in the distance, "those are pirates, and 
ive have got tiuo chances — one, to beat them off, the other, to 
die like dogs ; and we have got to go to hell or Calcidta 
before long ; so take your choicer' 

That was not an elegant speech, but it was laconic, 
and taking the character of a majority of the audience 
into consideration, it was, perhaps, better suited to tlieir 



118 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

taste and understanding than something more refined. 
But the look and manner of the gray-haired old man — 
for he had grown so since leaving Ceylon — carried his 
hearers with him. There was something in the expres- 
sion of his eye that showed a calm resolve to meet death 
at once, or come off victorious in the approaching strug- 
gle. 

Bravery commands respect, and no one could fail at 
such an hour to be encouraged by his presence, or feel 
a sort of veneration and respect for the domineering old 
tyrant, and as he struck an axe in the stump of the 
mizzen mast and drew his revolver, the action roused a 
desperate enthusiasm among the men, and one old Dutch 
sailor went so far as to exclaim : 

"I yust dinks ve goes to Calcutta !" at the same time 
possessing himself of an enormous broad-axe from the 
carpenter's chest of tools. 

''El ultima horaf" (the last hour) ejaculated a grizzled 
old Spaniard between his set teeth, and he reverently 
crossed himself; at the same time curling his wiry hands 
around the shank of a chain hook, and looking up to 
heaven with the air of one who had received the last 
sacrament. 

There were but few arms on board. The captain had 
a revolver, and the first officer and myself had each a 
cutlass and an old fashioned single-barreled pistol. The 
crew armed themselves with axes, capstan bars, and 
chain hooks, and one gigantic fellow from Holland, who 
had been a whaler, grasped a harpoon, and standing 
over six feet without shoes, stripped of all clothing but 
pants, a bandana handkerchief tied about his head, he 
would have passed for a second Neptune with his trident. 
As he stood by my side, towering above me, the knotted 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 119 

muscles swelling in his brawny arms, it was quite certain 
that at least one heathen would be sent to his long ac- 
count, and last. 

During the short time for preparation, the carpenter 
had gone below, where, assisted by two or three men, 
several large pieces of pig iron had been got out and 
hoisted on deck, being placed on the lee side near the 
main gangway ; the bulwarks being gone on that side 
we had every reason to believe that the enemy would 
try to board us there. The conjecture proved correct, 
and to serve as a barrier, taking the place of boarding 
netting, ropes were hurriedly stretched along and se- 
cured in the best manner possible. The pieces of pig 
iron from the lower hold had holes in each end, and had 
rope beckets or handles attached so that they could be 
lifted about if necessary, and w^eighed about two hun- 
dred pounds each. 

The few hurried preparations were soon over. Our 
Lascar part of the crew crept below in mortal terror. 
The cook betook himself to his galley, locking himself 
in, and from the funnel a dense smoke arose, showing 
that a fierce fire was burning within. At any other 
time it would have excited comment and investigation, 
but the occasion was too solemn and no remarks were 
made or questions asked. 

None but the few fighting men were now left, and we 
clustered in the lee gangway, a dozen or more, silently, 
wnth the calm resolve to sell our lives as dearly as pos- 
sible — aw^aited the onset and our fate. The moments 
seemed hours, as we stood with bated breath and throb- 
bing hearts, but there was not one craven spirit there, 
and had there been, flight would have been hopeless. 
The terribly fixed look of every eye gave indication of 



120 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

that desperate braveiy, born of despair, which sustained 
unto death the heroic Greeks at Thermopylae. 

Directly the measured fall of oars could be heard, 
and we could see the large, frail proa crowded with the 
copper-colored fiends, stripped naked, their bodies 
greased and glistening in the sun, each one armed with 
that peculiar knife which they always use, and the 
wound inflicted wdth which is always mortal, as they 
strike for the left shoulder, penetrating near the clavicle. 

On they came ! the crew who pulled at the oars being 
clothed, but the ones who were to do the bloody work 
congregated amidships. Maddened with rice brandy 
and opium, regardless of death, brandishing their glit- 
tering knives, and yelling like fiends incarnate, they 
dashed alongside our ship, and a grappling iron came 
flying over the ropes we had stretched for our protec- 
tion. 

Like tigers thirsting for their prey, they crowded up 
the chains — a ferocious savage was instantly over the 
ropes ; with flashing knife and uplifted arm, he fell 
upon me. I snapped my pistol full in his face — it miss- 
ed fire. Grasping the descending arm with all the 
strength despair could give, I was borne reeling to the 
deck still clinging to the wretch, who, to my astonish- 
ment, yelled in mortal agony, relinquishing his hold, 
and it was no wonder, for the gigantic Dutch sailor had 
driven his harpoon through his left breast and torn its 
barbed end out again — leaving me literally drenched in 
blood that poured from the gaping wound. Quickly re- 
gaining my feet and cutlass, I struck a ferocious looking 
head which was crowding through the rope barrier, and 
raising both hands, the pirate fell heavily back into the 
boat below ; the sharp crack of the captain's revolver 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 121 

sent one of them headlong among his comrades below ; 
the mate's pistol exploded in close proximity to the ear 
of another, blowing a hole in his skull, and he fell in on 
deck, where what little life remained was speedily kick- 
ed and trampled out of him, while two sailors, with rare 
presence of mind, and giant strength, raised one of the 
heavy pieces of pig iron and threw it in the boat below; 
it went crashing through her bottom and she filled with 
water ; but this rendered the situation all the more des- 
perate, and they crowded in faster than we could take 
care of them, and would have soon overpowered us had 
not a strange and unlooked-for appearance suddenly 
changed the future of war, and the certainty of a horri- 
ble death to us all, to a glorious victory. 

The galley door was suddenly opened and that sable 
old African, the cook, came waddling along, assisted by 
the steward, and carrying between them one of the ship's 
coppers, (a large kettle) holding about twelve or fifteen 
gallons of water; raising it on high they dashed the whole 
contents full in the faces and over the bodies of our 
bloodthirsty antagonists. With loud yells of rage and 
despair many leaped into the sea, the skin pealing from 
their bodies, some frantically struck right and left with 
their knives, a few tumbled in on deck and were quickly 
brained by the infuriated men with an axe or capstan 
bar. One wretch, writhing in his last agony, struck at 
our big Dutchman with his knife and laid open the calf 
of his leg nearly its whole length ; turning fiercely 
about the quondam whaler transfixed him with his har- 
poon, exclaiming : 

"You petter as mind your own pisness next time !" 
Then the poor fellow sank down and fainted through 
loss of blood. Mv life had been saved bv him, and there 



122 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

has always been a soft place in my heart since that time 
for the Dutch people. 

Perhaps twenty or more Malays were left in the sink- 
ing boat, but it was held fast to us by grappling irons, 
and two or three miserable creatures, blinded by scald- 
ing water, were groping about and feeling for the rope 
to cut it, and then the sharp report of the captain's mer- 
ciless revolver would ring out, and, with a wild shriek, 
one of them would throw up his hands and fall back a 
corpse. Several bodies rose in the water and drifted 
astern, and for the first time we noticed that the ship 
was moving. A breeze had indeed filled the sails, and 
we were slowly making our way through the water, and 
towing the boat filled with dead and dying pirates. Two 
of them had found their way into the main chains, 
where they were discovered covered with blood and leer- 
ing horridly with sightless eyeballs, but when we tried to 
drag them on board they leaped into the sea. 

"Cut their rope," said the captain, and the sinking 
boat fell astern with a few wretches clinging round it. 
In a few moments more the waters had gone over them, 
and there were none left to be rescued by the two re- 
maining boats which vainly endeavored to give them 
assistance. 




RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 123 



CHAPTER XVL 



WOUNDED MEN DEAD MALAYS NIGHT TOILERS 

OF THE SEA " STARVATION AND DISEASE 

"sail, ho !" DISAPPOINTMENT SENSATIONS 

OF EXTREME HUNGER THE CAPTAIN 

"sail, ho !" AGAIN A MAN-OF-WAR. 



^^^FTER having fairly cleared the scene of our late 
^(^ encounter and with all the canvas we could pos- 
ff" sibly spread to the breeze, attention was given 
to those suffering from wounds, and who were in 
much need of assistance. Of the crew, the one cut in 
the leg before mentioned, was the worst, and as much 
blood had been lost his case was indeed critical. Another 
poor fellow had his skull divested of its scalp on one 
side by a blow from a knife, and faint and unable to see 
was moaning piteously, creeping about the deck with 
the blood streaming over his face. One had been nearly 
strangled by a dying wretch who had seized him by the 
throat in his agony, and only relaxed his grasp with 
death. He lay on his back breathing heavily, and, with 
eyes protruding from their sockets, was a sad spectacle. 
Several had slight cuts and contusions, and all were ex- 
hausted, sick and faint, for after such a terrible strain 
on mind and body, a fearful reaction occurs, the bravest 
growing weak, and every faculty seeming almost pros- 



124 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST ; OR, 

trated. The nervous excitement is dreadful, the stom- 
ach refuses food, and sleep only comes in fitful and hor- 
rid dreams. 

Caring as best we could for our wounded men, the 
Lascars were driven on deck from below and the blood 
washed away. There were five dead Malays stretched 
along the gangway. With their greasy bodies, sunken 
and upturned eyes, with lips receding from their long, 
yellow teeth, covered with blood and ghastly wounds, 
they presented a horrid and repulsive spectacle. They 
were pushed overboard without any ceremony; and soon 
no trace of the fierce combat was visible. 

Night came on apace, the ship slowly held her way, 
and, exhausted but thankful for deliverance, I held my 
lonely vigil until midnight, while all save the watch on 
deck went below for a few short hours' rest. Occasion- 
ally a groan from one of the sufferers broke the stillness 
but before midnight silence reigned. 

The fresh breeze wafted us onward; the night was one 
of remarkable beauty, and the late terrible tempest seem- 
ed to purify the atmosphere. Light and fleecy clouds 
filled the sky, and in the blue vaults, far beyond, friendly 
stars twinkled, and when the moon appeared, sailing 
majestically through one of the great arches, with a sin- 
gle bright star in her train, the effect was inconceivably 
grand, and with our crippled and shattered vessel, and 
such a sky, I could not but regret my inability to trans- 
fer the scene to canvas. 

"That night the sky was heaped with clouds, 

Through one blue gulf profound. 
The moon came rushing like a stag, 

And one star like a hound." 

Midnight came at last ; the man at the wheel struck 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 125 

eight bells, the great bell on the forecastle repeated the 
hour. The port watch was aroused and came on deck, and 
the first officer relieved me. Too exhausted and excited 
wdth the events of the day to sleep, I tossed from side to 
side in my narrow berth in feverish dreams with horri- 
ble phantasms passing continually before my sight, and 
w^hen the four hours had passed went on duty again 
thoroughly exhausted and miserable in the last degree. 

Towards the latter part of November we had worked 
our weary w^ay but a short distance to the north and west, 
and might well have been called the "toilers of the sea." 
When the wind was fair and strong the best speed was 
about five knots per hour, but when ahead so much lee 
way was made that little was accomplished. All had 
been done that human skill could invent to get extra 
sails in position to catch and make the most of every 
breeze, and still the progress w^as slow, very slow indeed, 
and the Delta of the Ganges was yet many weary leagues 
away. The stock of provisions grew alarmingly low, 
and for several days only about half the usual amount 
had been issued. Of water, fortunately, there was an 
abundant supply, as most of it had been secured below 
during the storm, but it was vile, ropy stuff and no one 
could drink it unless actually suffering with thirst. All 
hands, fore and aft, now fared alike, and the only food 
was a little rice and salt beef, and sometimes tea boiled 
in the miserable water, which rendered it more nauseat- 
ing, if possible, than before. 

It would be tedious to write of the foil owning two long 
weeks which brought us nearly to the middle of Decem- 
ber. The rations were further reduced, and still we 
lived. These were long and laborious days exposed to 
the scorching rays of a noon-day sun, which seemed 



126 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

ever in the zenith, and when he suddenly disappeared 
below the horizon, darkness came without twilight. The 
night seemed longer than the day, and moaning men 
crept about, or secluded themselves below and wept 
piteously, and those who had never known prayers or 
tears, now wept and prayed, and always prayed — for 
bread. 

Death had seemed to spare us in the storm and at the 
hands of our enemies to die of starvation, and we trim- 
med the sails and the man took his place at the wheel, 
while hope was faint, and despair tried every heart to 
the uttermost. The shij)'s course was turned in a more 
westerly direction, hoping that if unable to reach our 
destined port, we might at least reach the track of ves- 
sels coming from or bound to Calcutta. 

Two of the crew who had been wounded had been so 
reduced by starvation and disease that they became in- 
sane, and most of them were not much better. During 
the day they huddled together in little groups about the 
deck and talked about what they had eaten, and one 
who had become an idiot from pain and disease, set out 
imaginary feasts, and entertained the others by naming 
over different dishes and courses and assigning them 
places at the table. When all were weary of listening 
to his never-ending babble, and asked, "When does the 
feast begin ?" he stared vacantly, pointed upward with 
his skinny hand, and sadly went over the same tedious 
conversation. When the poor, disgusted men crept 
away he laughed horridly, and threatened to eat every- 
thing himself. 

The first officer became a raving maniac, but was so 
weak that he could do but little harm. He made dread- 
ful threats and had to be constantly watched. If any- 



BECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 127 

one tried to reason with him, he would beg piteously for 
his life, and for mercy, promising if his life could be 
spared that all should have — bread! 

The scanty diet of salt beef and rice, combined with 
putrid water, had caused diarrhoea and all must have 
soon perished unless relief could soon be at hand to allay 
the fearful pangs that now tormented us. 

One day ! It seemed an age, two days — -but why write 
more days one by one? It would be useless, for no 
words could express the misery — agony would be bet- 
ter — of the seven subsequent days that came and went 
so slowly that death would have been welcome. Still 
life remained in our tortured and emaciated bodies, but 
reason had forever fled her throne from some of our num- 
ber, and we were all wandering on the border-lands of 
insanity. 

One of our poor wasted men, was a Spaniard, and in 
his delirum always spake in his native tongue, but never 
at other times. He had a sweet soprano voice and 
had, when young, been on the operatic stage, and often 
used to sing during the dog-watches when the men con- 
gregated on the forecastle to smoke after supper. To my 
surprise, one night, as he lay on the forecastle, I saw him 
rise up, and, standing erect, he sang with clear and sad 
voice, a strain which I shall never forget : 

*"Hay una voz tan pura y melodiosa 

Q,ueal oirla mi pecho se enajena; 
No acorn panados de esa voz hermosa 

Celico.s caros no quisiei'a oir." 

As the echo of the last strain died away the jwor fel- 



*"There is a voice whose tones inspire 

Such tlirills of ra]>ture through my breast, 
I would not hear a ^erapli choir, 
Unless that voice could join the rest." 



128 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OK^ 

low staggered forward, and tripping over the low railing 
fell with a dull plunge overboard ! There was no sound 
heard save the splash, and the waters closed over him. 
No alarm was made, and but little notice taken of the 
event. I looked for him to rise, but he never appeared 
above the water after sinking, and those who were left 
almost envied his fate. 

The men crept about like spectres and looked anx- 
iously at each other, but there was nothing wolfish or of a 
cannibal look in their sad and pleading eyes, for disease 
had so weakened and prostrated them that their stom- 
achs often rejected the scanty fare provided. They now 
spent their whole time on the forecastle, searching the 
horizon for a passing sail. Some little progress had 
been made to the westward, and the only hope was for 
relief of that kind. 

At sunset the feeble cry of "Sail, ho !" came from one 
of the men on the forecastle, and far away on the west- 
ern horizon were seen the upper sails of a ship. The 
ensign was run up to the fore-topmast head union down, 
but night came slowly over the ocean, and at daybreak 
nothing but the broad, blue expanse could be seen. 
Hope seemed forever gone, and I threw myself on my 
hard narrow bed, and felt as if I should never rise again. 
When my eyes w^ere closed, my brain seemed like molten 
lead, and the sockets dry, and if I turned on my face to 
allay the fearful gnawing pangs of hunger in my stom- 
ach, it seemed as if the brain would ooze out of the or- 
bits of the eyes, and it was necessary to put up both 
hands to prevent it. Sleep would not — could not — come, 
and taking my poor old journal, I laboriously, in pencil, 
wrote a few straggling and scarcely legible sentences : 

"At sea, December, 18 — . Almost dying from hun- 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 129 

ger. Can hold out but a few days longer. Will relief 
never come? Am very weak and faint and would give 
all I possess for a crust of bread. My mind is going 
from me. I cannot stop it, and that is my principal 
dread. It seems as if I was in some vast submarine 
cavern and some horrid monster had clutched me with 
his powerful tentacles and was working away trying to 
sever my vertebrae near the base of the brain, and if he 
succeeds, then — all will be over. I lay on my back and 
have kicked off my shoes. My thin feet look very 
white, and the roaches have eaten my nails so the blood 
is streaming down and it seems such a pity to waste it, 
A rat looks up from between my feet, his round eyes 
twinkle and he worries me dreadfully as he winks and 
blinks at me in my helplessness. I will go to bed with 
my shoes on next time, the roaches will not bite my feet 
so. There is a rent in my sleeve, and my arm looks so 
thin, yet fair and white for such a black sunburned hand, 
I almost wish some accident would occur so that it might 
be broken and have to be cut off, then — I could hide it 
away. >k >i< ^ -^ ^ 

"I must not write any more, but get up and stagger 
about a while longer." 

It took me about four long hours to write the forego- 
ing, and I doubt if any one could read much of it, but I 
know what the hieroglyphics mean and what a dreadful 
effort they cost. 

The old captain came on deck as often as he could, 
but his step was slow and feeble. Most of the time he sat 
in the cabin bowed down in pain and silent grief It 
was necessary for me to interrupt him often on matters 
of duty, and at such times when he looked up the fur- 
row^s on his stern, hard face were deeper than they used 



130 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST,' ORy 

to be. He also gave a little more attention to his prayer 
book, and as it lay in his lap the words "From famine, 
pestilence and war, good Lord deliver us," were plainly 
seen. Speaking to him about some medicine for one of 
the men, to my surprise, he spoke kindly, and slowly 
rising from his seat^ his eyes filled with tears : "God 
bless you, my boy, we are suffering dreadfully, but I 
never will give up the ship, and" — 

"Saily ho !" came faintly from a poor wretch on the 
forecastle. 

"Saily ho !" joyfully echoed the cook, peering from the 
galley door. 

"Sail, ho !" gasped the tatterdemalion at the wheel as 
he clutched the spokes for support. 

"Where away ?" said the captain, as he staggered up 
the companion way, 

"Two points forward of the weather beam/' answered 
a man amidships. 

The ensign was flying from the fore- topmast head, 
union down, and had been left there since we saw the 
last sail. 

The poor wasted men gathered on the forecastle, and 
those who were able stood up and peered anxiously to 
windward. Far away could be dimly seen the royals 
and top-gallant sails of a ship ; by the stumpy royal 
masts and flat trucks it was evidently an English vessel, 
and as the topsails slowly rose above the horizon we 
could see that it was a large ship and — was coming to- 
wards us ! When the tops appeared, they were filled 
with men, and no sail was carried on the cross-jack 
yard. It was a man-of-war ! 

Soon his hull appeared above the water and the guns 
could be seen projecting from the ports ; a white streak 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 131 

of foam next appeared rolling ahead of his bluff bows, 
and then the crowds of men on deck could be seen, and 
the gold lace on the caps of the officers. 

When perhaps half a mile away, the studding sails 
came in all together, and rapidly dashing over the in- 
termediate space that separated us, up Avent his mainsail 
the yards swung to the wind, and he rounded to under 
our stern, coming near us on the lee side. 

"What ship is that ?" hailed an officer through the 
trumpet. 

Too weak to reply, our captain sadly pointed to the 
signal of distress at the fore. The officer seeming to 
comprehend the situation, quickly added : "I will send 
a boat alongside." 

The captain, in as few words as possible, made known 
our situation, and as the officer in charge of the boat 
turned to go on board his ship, requested me to accompany 
him, as the commanding officer might wish to obtain fur- 
ther information. The captain gave his consent, and, too 
weak to get over the gangway, one of the English sailors 
took me in his arms as tenderly as if I had been a baby, 
and carried me down in the boat, and sat me in the stern 
sheets, remarking that I world "slip my cable for this 
world if I did not soon get some ballast aboard." 

The midshipman in charge was about my own age, and 
eyed me in about the same manner that a pretty girl 
would a rough country cousin ; but we were soon along- 
side the war vessel, and I was carried on board, and stag- 
gering aft, the cabin door was opened by a marine orderly 
and I stood in the presence of the commander of Her Bri- 
tannic Majesty's ship, Amphytrite. 

He was a fine, healthy looking old gentleman, and 
seeing my sad condition, told me to be seated, and spoke 



182 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST ; OR, 

very kindly, and asked me to relate to him the cause of 
our condition and misfortunes. 

I did so briefly, and when I told him of the encoun- 
ter with the Malays, he sent for the first lieutenant and 
the surgeon, and soon other officers were invited and I 
had quite a large audience, and some remarked to each 
other that it was "strange you know that a 'Hamerican' 
spoke such good English." 

After concluding, the surgeon took me with him to 
the ward-room and gave me a cup of coffee and a tre- 
mendous piece of bread, and told me to eat it very sIoav- 
ly, and considerately left me alone a short time. After 
my brief repast Avas over, and words cannot describe the 
eagerness with which every crumb was devoured, the 
officers gathered round and I had to tell the whole story 
over again. The paymaster took notes, and said it 
would make a "blarsted fine story sometime." 

As they were to touch at Point de Galle, and from 
thence proceed to Calcutta, the first lieutenant said they 
would report us, and the steamers at the mouth of the 
river would be on the lookout. During my stay 
several boat loads of provisions had been sent on board 
our ship, and the officer of the deck sent word to me 
that it was time to return, so shaking hands with all, and 
quite overcome by so much attention and kindness I 
took my departure. 

Twelve hearty tars with measured strokes sent the 
boat through the water until our ship was reached when 
two of the men helped me over the side. 

"Shove off," said the officer in the boat. "Let fall," 
and the oars were again in motion and I could only 
wave good bye. 

We had passed through another danger and escaped 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 



133 



death once more. Sadly we gazed at the returning 
boat, and watched as it rose up the vessel's side to 
the davits, and at the same time our deliverer filled 
away ; it was nearly sunset, and in an hour he had dis- 
appeared. 



V 



Two Tears Abaft tlie Mast." 



134 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OK, 



CHAPTER XYIL 



RECOVERING FROM STARVATION — DANGER AND DE- 
VOTION FRENCH CORVETTE— "ABORDEZ LE GRAND 

FOC" CLOSE OF PASSAGE TIDES SLEEP. 



"Then some the watch of night alternate keep, 
The rest lie buried in oblivious sleep." 

jFTER the boat from the Amphytrite had left us 
all that had occurred on board was reported by me 
to the captain, who, on account of the condition 
of the first officer, then stood his watch, and my 
responsibilities and duties were also much increas- 
ed. The provisions furnished by our English friend 
were dealt out — sparingly at first — to the suffering and 
famished men, but the eflPect Avas wonderful, and some, 
in their great joy, went so far as to try and walk about 
and smoke their pipes, but their effort was too much, 
and in a short time most of them were curled up and 
asleep. 

In giving the first officer some brandy and water, he 
madly bit the glass and broke it, and the only way he 
could be made to swallow was to soak some lint in the 
brandy and force it in his mouth ; we also did the same 
to some of the men, but most of them managed to eat 
very well, and by giving a little at first they gradually 
gained strength. The Lascars had not suffered as much 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 135 

as the rest of the crew, and when they got their rice and 
currie back again, soon forgot all their troubles, as well 
as their customary devotions in the hour of danger, so 
it seems that many who call themselves Christians and 
the poor heathen are not unlike in some respects. 

The month of December was now drawing to a close, 
and but little of special interest occurred after our res- 
cue from death by starvation. The crew were rapidly 
recovering, and only two of them seemed hopeless cases; 
the first ofiicer had improved somewhat, but from being 
a rough, hard sailor, he had been rendered a petulant, 
miserable man, and seemed to have utterly lost his usual 
characteristics, and, as the duties of his oficice had, 
of necessity, fallen on me, my duties increased to such 
a degree that the accidental promotion lost all its 
charms and made me long more than ever to reach port 
again. 

Passing vessels occasionally appeared, which gave 
us much encouragement, and every day when the posi- 
tion was determined, found us making fair progress. 
The North Star also was rising higher in the heavens and 
seemed to be another token of promise that w^e were to 
be saved. 

The first of two years had now passed since leaving 
Old England's shores, and much had transpired besides 
the many incidents so imperfectly related here. 

One morning a French Corvette, bound to the Mauritius, 
hove in sight, and noticing our strange appearance, kept 
ofi" his course and came rolling down before the wind 
towards us. When wdthin hailing distance he luffed up 
and opened a conversation through his trumpet in 
French, of which language our captain was ignorant; in 
fact, his knowledge of language was confined to that 



136 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OK, 

which he usually spoke, and, at times, it was certainly 
rather rough, and forcibly inelegant. 

Our colors were hoisted, and the Frenchman left oft 
speaking and lowered a cutter, in which was soon set 
a mainsail and jib, and in charge of a lieutenant the 
boat came alongside and the ofiicer came on board. 

Our worthy captain received him silently and with an 
awkward attempt at politeness. 

The Frenchman was all affability and grace. Making 
a salute, he said : 

"Saire, I have ze honnair to address you, therefore I 
spik Anglais like a natiff"!" 

The captain seemed about as ill at ease as if he had 
been called upon to address an agricultural association 
in some rural district, and said "yes" in a mechanical 
manner, looking at the same time as if he thought him a 
frog-eating rascal, but the voluble Frenchman again took 
up his harangue : 

"I also observe ze loss of your ship and desire much 
instruction at ze calamite deplorable, acceptez vous ze 
consideration of ze captain that I represent to you on 
such occasion memorable like zees as my heart, (placing 
his hand over the locality where that organ was sup- 
posed to exist) shall never respondez at such calamite 
magnifique." 

Our bluft* old captain wanted to let oft* a few profane 
pyrotechnics, but by a strong eftbrt held his peace. 

"So, you comprehendez me Anglais spik ?" 

Bang! went a gun from the Corvette, which had now 
drifted a long way off", and Sous Lieutenant Adolphe 
Ramboulette (such was engraved on his card) who 
spoke English "like a natiff"," took his departure. Turn- 
ing in his boat to wave us a graceful adieu, he ordered, 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 137 

Abordez le grand foe T^' His foot became entangled in the 
main sheet and he fell overboard with a splash; his men 
quietly pulled him back again, and deposited him limp 
and bedraggled in the stern sheets, from whence he did 
not again arise until his vessel was reached ; and we 
slowly kept on our toilsome way. 

The passage was drawing to a close, and obser- 
vations indicated that we were very near the Hoogly 
pass of the Ganges. The clear blue of the ocean began 
to turn a dull color, and we were hourly hoping to see a 
pilot brig. With great labor our ground tackle ( anchors 
and cable) had been got in working order, and all were 
anxiously watching and waiting. 

A few days after, and during the last of a lonely mid- 
dle watch, as the night began to fade away and there 
was barely light enough to distinguish any distant ob- 
ject, the tapering masts of a full rigged brig could be seen 
as she lay at anchor a short distance ahead, and as we 
drew near and slowly passed her, one of the officers told 
us to stand to windward and anchor, and that they would 
send a boat to us in a short time. 

Anchoring as directed and furling what little canvas 
we had aloft, at 8 o'clock a boat left the brig, and the 
pilot came on board. He had heard of our situation, 
and one of the Peninsula and Oriental Company's 
steamers had touched at Point de Galle and carried the 
news to Calcutta, as the Amphytrite had previously been 
there and reported us. The news of our adventures and 
mishaps had created quite a sensation, and the Calcutta 
Englishman newspaper came out in a colunm article, or 
more, giving details of the whole affair, followed by a 
panegyric on the prowess of Old England's invincible tars, 
*Haul aft tlJ3 jib sheet. 



138 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

from which it appeared that it was not generally known 
that ours was an American ship. However, the matter 
was never contradicted, and, like many other dangers 
by land and sea, has nearly been forgotten. 

There were some four ships at anchor near us waiting 
to be taken up the river, and the pilot said a steamer 
would come for us as soon as our arrival was reported at 
the city, and that the other ships would go up the river 
as soon as the tide was favorable, which would be in a 
few hours, and all that we could do would be to lay 
quietly at anchor until a steamer came for us, as it would 
be impossible for us to work up under sail. 

While swinging to the tide for two or three days I quot- 
ed the following in my journal from a well-thumbed 
work on physical geography, and deem it not out of 
place here as winds and other oceanic disturbances have 
been treated of: 

"Tides are those regular alternate risings and fallings 
of the waters of the ocean and of bays, rivers, etc., 
which communicate freely with it. The rise from the 
attractive influence of the sun and moon, the latter being 
the more powerful agent. The sea rises or flows, as it is 
called, by degrees about six hours ; it remains stationary 
about a quarter of an hour; it then retires, or ebbs, dur- 
ing another six hours, to flow again after a brief repose. 
Thus high and low water occur tw^ice every lunar day, 
or the periods elapsing between the successive returns of 
the moon to the meridian of a place, which is twenty- 
four hours fifty and a half minutes. 

"If the earth remained stationary upon its axis, there 
would be tw^o elevations and depressions of the waters 
in each place in a month, or the time the moon is making 
her circuit round the earth. But by the diurnal rota- 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 139 

tion the moon passes every day the meridian of every 
part of the globe, producing daily two seasons of high 
and low water. The time of high tide does not coincide 
with the time when the moon is on the meridian of a 
place, a period of several hours ordinarily intervening 
between the moon's transit and that of high water. The 
explanation of this is, that the water, having received 
motion, continues to rise after the moon has passed from 
its meridian, the impulse continuing for some time after 
the moon's transit. 

"Besides the attractions of the moon, the influence of 
the sun is concerned in elevating the waters of the ocean. 
The solar attraction is not so strong as the lunar, because, 
though a much larger body, the sun is at a far greater 
distance from the earth. The tidal influence of the sun 
has been calculated to be about one-third of that of the 
moon. 

"Sometimes the sun and moon act in conjunction, as at 
the seasons of new and full moon, and then the tides 
rise the highest, and are called spring tides, but when 
the moon is in quadrature, it acts in opposition to the 
sun, and then occur the lowest, or neap tides. 

"Though high tides occur in the open seas soon after 
the moon has passed the meridian, yet in other places 
shoals, channels, peninsulas and capes, and the diversi- 
fied form of the shores, so retard the progress of the 
undulation, that high tide happens at all distances of 
the moon from meridian, and consequently at all hours 
of the day. Difierence of local situation causes great 
difference as to the height to which the tide rises. In 
the central parts of the ocean the height is comparative- 
ly small, seldom exceeding three feet, but in rushing up 
contracted channels the tide water frequently causes a 



140 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

difFereuce of twenty, thirty and sixty feet between high 
and low water mark. 

"The cradle of tides is supposed to be that part of the 
Pacific Ocean to the south-east of Australia. The height 
to which tides, rise, varies greatly in different places. 
At St. Helena the tide rise does not exceed three feet ; 
at Chepstow, on the British Channel, sixty feet ; and in 
the Bay of Fundy, between Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 
wick, it is known to rise seventy feet." So much for 
tides. 

At the end of six days the smoke of a steamer was 
seen winding along through the far-off mud banks and 
marshes, after clearing which, she turned her course for 
us, and in a few hours we were quietly following in her 
wake, and the perils of a most disastrous passage draw- 
ing to a close. The former consignees in Calcutta sent 
us by the steamer fresh supplies of food and medicines, 
and the trials and troubles of the past were soon forgot- 
ten, or only casually spoken of. No people suffer more 
or have more perils and hardships than sailors, and none 
sooner forget their perils and sufferings when they are 
over. 

At the end of three days the domes and minarets of 
Calcutta appeared. Towing rapidly past the ex-King 
of Oude's palace and Fort William, the anchor was let 
go off the esplanade and dangers and privations for a 
time ended. The ship presented a painful contrast in 
regard to her past appearance, when so proudly leaving 
port a few months before. As soon as our arrival be- 
came generally known many people came off in dingy- 
whallahs to see the ship and ask all kinds of questions. 
The sick and disabled were sent to the hospital on shore, 
and in a few days our storm-tossed bark was taken into 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 141 

the dock for repairs. For the first time in many weeks 
there was a prospect of a whole night's sleep, and as I 
stretched my weary limbs in my narrow bed, an un- 
natural stillness seemed to pervade the ship. The fa- 
miliar roll and rush of water from side to side had ceas- 
ed ; at first a stormy dreamland began, then the malign 
and ferocious Malay faces began to peer through the 
rigging, and then, in the dim distance, the pallid, suffer- 
ing faces of starving men appeared, succeeded by visions 
of green fields, running brooks, bountiful harvests, 
smiling faces and — oblivion. 




142 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 



CHAPTER XYIIL 



DRY DOCK — ORIENTAL STEAMERS — REPAIRS — CARGO- 
A PROPHECY BILL OF LADING READY FOR SEA. 



jFTEK discharging and paying off our crew^ 
the ship was towed to the west bank of the 
river opposite Calcutta, and went into the dry 
dock at Howrah, which of itself is quite a popu- 
lous village and contains several large docks, machine 
shops and foundries. The magnificent steamers of the 
Peninsula and Oriental Company lie there, and one 
which I visited was certainly the finest passenger vessel 
of the time and fitted with every appliance for safety 
and comfort possible for a vessel to have. Her name 
was the Simla, and her size was over 3,000 tons burden. 
The mail from England is sent up the Mediterranean 
and across the Isthmus of Suez, thence by these steam- 
ers down the Red Sea, touching at Point de Galle, 
thence to Calcutta. 

Our ship while in dock was newly coppered and such 
other repairs made as were necessary. The captain 
boarded on shore, and I was alone on board and mon- 
arch of all I surveyed. The underwriters had to repair 
the ship, and all that money or labor could do to put 
her in good order was done. Some of the copper was 
scraped off when we struck the time before in going down 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 143 

the river, and the rest was much wrinkled owing to the 
ship being badly strained in the recent storm through 
which we passed, so it all had to be stripped off and be 
replaced by new metal. In the first place the ship had 
to be caulked and coppered, and as some who read this 
may not know what that means, I Avill, for their benefit, 
explain : The seams between the outer planks are first 
filled with oakum (rope yarns picked to pieces) which is 
driven into them by a blunt instrument, called a caulk- 
ing-iron ; after the seams are driven full of oakum the}'' 
are then covered with a coating of pitch ; then paint is 
applied ; over that, felt soaked in tar, and finally the 
sheets of copper are nailed firmly on. Were a vessel's 
bottom not thus protected it would soon be riddled with 
worms which abound in tropical waters ; also, grass and 
barnacles would adhere which w^ould retard her speed. 

After being coppered the ship was hauled out of dock, 
the stumps of the broken masts hoisted out, and new 
lower masts put in their places. A gang of riggers then 
sent up the topmasts, and as fast as the other spars and 
rigging could be got in readiness they were sent aloft, so 
that by the middle of March we again had a trim look- 
ing ship and were ready once more to face the perils of 
the deep. The ship being without any cargo rose high 
out of the water, and with her three sky-sail yards across 
and tapering masts and spars towered above the other 
shipping. She had a rakish look that was the dread of 
old sailors who know that a fancy looking ship with so 
many "flying kites" was a hr.rd one to go to sea in, but 
American clippers had a reputation for speed — and go 
to sea they must — and me i had to be found to man 
them, and so long as they made rapid passages, and got 
heavy freights for small and valuable cargoes, what did 



144 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

the owners care if now and then a poor fellow was 
hurled from a topsail yard into the sea, or turned up 
missing some dark night when a jib had to be furled, and 
the ship was plunging bows under into a heavy head 
sea. It was the custom on board such ships to carry 
sail until "all was blue," to use a common expression, 
which might be rendered that to carry it any longer 
would be to carry the masts overboard, and as our ships 
were seldom more than half manned it Avas quite a seri- 
ous matter to shorten sail, and all hands had to be call- 
ed to do the work of one watch ; consequently, in bad 
weather there was little rest day or night for officers or 
men, and all were sure to be drenched continually with 
water, which, with a stiff breeze, was always flying over 
the weather-side and bows. 

The cargo was engaged as soon as we were ready to 
receive it and our destination was Boston. Our cock- 
ney custom's official had it "Hamerica, in the United 
States," but it was a long way off, and geographical 
ideas became vague and somewhat confused. We heard 
from our OAvn country occasionally through the English 
papers, and there seemed to be much trouble between 
the North and South, and as a large part of our cargo 
was to be saltpetre, it seemed that some one believed it 
to be a good future investment. 

One evening, after reading in one of the latest over- 
land papers an account of the gloomy state of affairs in 
the United States, I entered the following in my journal, 
and will leave the reader to judge as to the prophetic 
language : 

"Calcutta, March, 18 — . Can it be possible that there 
is to be civil war in the United States ? Fervently we 
hope and trust it will not come to pass, and believe the 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 145 

infernal politicians are stirring up all the trouble for 
their own selfish purposes. K war does come they will 
be quite sure to keep tliemselves out of it, and leave all 
the slaughter, danger and privation to the poor misguid- 
ed people. It will be a struggle of giants, for the South 
is not aware of and does not comprehend the tremen- 
dous resources of the North, and the North is ignorant of 
the Southern people and their strong attachment to pe- 
culiar and inherited institutions. People who go to sea 
and get their ideas enlarged by contact with the world 
are generally quite liberal in their views, and the intelli- 
gent Americans with whom I have conversed here look 
with regret at the turn aifairs have taken in our country, 
but still hope all can be peaceably and honorably set- 
tled. It is to be feared, however, that the powerful mi- 
nority who have so long controlled the country, will not 
submit to be overthrown without the last appeal of na- 
tions, which is — to arms." 

In a few days the cargo was all on board. The lower 
hold being filled with saltpetre, and between decks we 
carried jute, goat skins, castor oil and indigo, and the 
time drew near for our homeward journey of twenty 
thousand miles over the trackless ocean. 

It was a bad season to go to sea, as the time w^as again 
at hand for the changing of the monsoons; and we were 
liable to squalls, calms, and light and variable winds, 
but the ship being nearly ready, there was no time to 
be wasted, and go we had to, and do the best we could 
to make a passage. 

When the loading was finished, and the provisions and 
water all on board, the following bill of lading was 
signed by the captain, describing the merchandise on 
board the Endymion, in the following words : 



146 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OK, 

"Calcutta, India, March 26th, 1860. 
" Whitney Bros. & Company, Commission Merchants : 

"I, John Vaughan, of Saco, Maine, (United States), 
master of the Al extreme clipper ship Endymion, of 
two thousand five hundred tons (or thereabouts) burden, 
being now at Calcutta, for the purpose of proceeding, at 
the first favorable weather, under the protection of God, 
to the port of Boston, where I shall discharge cargo, ac- 
knowledge having received on board my said ship En- 
dymion, from you, Messrs. Whitney Bros., & Co., 
Commission Merchants of Calcutta, the following, 
to-wit: Eleven hundred tons of saltpetre, two thousand 
bales of jute, fifteen hundred bales of goat skins, five 
hundred mats of indigo, ten barrels of cocoanut oil, one 
hundred cases of castor oil and two hundred rolls of 
matting, valued at £125,000 sterling, the whole being 
in good condition, marked and numbered as in the mar- 
gin ; which cargo I promise to carry in good condition, 
the perils of the sea and acts of God excepted, to Bos- 
ton, and there to deliver them to Hamilton & Co., or 
their order, on payment of my freight of £6,500 ster- 
ling. And for the fulfilment of this agreement I have 
pledged, and do pledge, my person, my goods, and the 
said ship with all the appurtenances thereof. 

"In witness whereof, I have signed three bills of lading 
all of this tenor and date, one of which being accom- 
plished, the others are to stand void. 

"Signed at Calcutta, India, this twenty-sixth day of 
March, A. D. 1860. 

"JOHN VAUGHAN, Master." 

We were now ready for sea. The crew came on 
board and were a hard looking set, but all seamen. We 
were so far away from the United States that the men 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 147 

shipped were generally fair seamen, and even if they 
were kidnapped in America, by the time they arrived in 
India they would have learned enough to make them- 
selves useful. 

The captain seemed to have quite recovered himself 
and was again the grim old sailor of former days, 
though he looked much older and his hair was white, 
and the elastic step and buoyant air of a year before 
were forever gone. 

The deck of our ship presented a curious spectacle, 
and looked like a menagerie. Coops full of chickens on 
the quarter deck (by the way, India is the home of the 
domestic fowl), twenty-four native hogs, several monkeys, 
two tiger cubs and several birds of the parrot family, 
went to make a lively picture and noisy exhibition. 
There was also a large and ferocious bull-dog, but the 
monkeys teased him so that life became a burden, and 
on the approach of one, he would sneak away, coAved and 
dejected, under the forecastle, where he yelped forth de- 
fiance as, seemingly, a wish that they were all back in 
their native woods again. 

All being in readiness the pilot came on board, and on 
the morrow we were to leave our moorings and begin 
another journey, for weal or woe we knew not ; the fu- 
ture was before us, we could not penetrate its mysteries, 
but with stout hearts undertook to reach those who were 
so faithfully watching and waiting our coming in 
another hemisphere. 




148 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 



CHAPTER XIX. 



DOWN THE HOOGLY ADIEU TO LAND SLOW PRO- 
GRESS VARIABLE WEATHER. 



"Tis man's bold task the geaei'ous strife to try, 
But in the hands of God is victory." 

mUHIS will be a dry, statistical chapter, and consist 
d^ almost wholly of extracts from the los^ book and 
'I" my journal, so it would be better for the reader to 
omit it : 

"Calcutta, March 31, 1860. At daylight unmoored 
from the Bankshall moorings, swung into the stream, 
and dropped down below the city to Garden Reach, 
where we came to anchor with forty fathoms of cable 
and laid during the night." 

"April 1st. Steamer Victoria took us in tow as far as 
Mirapore, where we again anchored for the night, and on 
the following day towed us safely over the dangerous 
James and Mary's Shoal, and as far as Diamond Har- 
bor." 

"April 3d, At 8 a. m. got underway and proceeded to 
Mud Point ; the Rubicon has been passed and we shall 
soon see the blue water. A welcome time it will be for 
us, for the sun is fearful by day and the insects torment 
by night. It is a dreary looking place to anchor. The 
fast, rushing, yellow current goes sweeping by, myriads 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 149 

of mosquitoes fill the air, and such a thing as sleep is 
out of the question, and from all sides comes the bellow- 
ing of crocodiles, mingled with the yelp of jackals and 
roaring of wild beasts in the distant jungles. 

"Again got underway, and the steamer towed us as far 
as Saugor, where she left us. Here we anchored and 
remained another dreary night, making sail at daylight, 
and at 1 p. m. came to anchor for the last time at the 
mouth of the river." 

On the 6th of April we got up our anchor, made sail, 
and stood for the " open sea ; so ended the day of 
tw^elve hours to begin the sea day. We soon saw the 
pilot brig standing off and on (from and towards the 
shore,) and when we came up with her we backed the 
main topsail and the pilot bid us goodbye. At 8 o'clock 
the channel light-ship bore north three-quarters west, 
from which we took our departure. 

The foregoing extracts can have little or no interest 
to the general reader, but if any old sailor who has been 
to Calcutta should take the trouble to read them, he 
wnll recognize the names of places and know that we had 
a week's hard work in getting to sea, and were heartily 
glad when it was time for the pilot to leave us. 

As soon as he was fairly over the side and in his boat, 
the yards were carefully braced and sail set, and with a 
light breeze from the south-west, we steadily moved 
through the muddy water and stretched aw^ay for the 
blue sea far beyond — 

"The natives, while the ship departs the land, 
Ashore, with admiration, gazing stand; 
Majestically slow before the breeze. 
In silent pomp she marches on the seas." 

When morning came w^e were once more at sea, and 



150 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

slowly making our way southward. We had a long and 
hard day's work in getting anchors in on deck and se- 
cured, storing away the heavy chain cables below, coiling 
up and securing the heavy hawsers under the boats, put- 
ting on chafing gear where most needed, etc. The breeze 
was light, too much so for us, and, to close the day, we 
had a calm. 

In a former paragraph mention was made of the day 
ending to begin the sea day. On board vessels in the 
merchant service the day begins at noon. From that 
time until midnight is the first half of the day, and it 
ends at noon the following day. So when a vessel takes 
her departure from land the general entry is made in the 
log-book: "Thus ends this day of (here insert number of 
hours) to begin the sea day." 

For thirty days the progress w^as so very slow that we 
were still eight degrees north of the equator. The 10th 
of May the equator was crossed, forty days from Cal- 
cutta. The weather was squally, and the wind light 
and ahead most of the time ; under better and more fa- 
vorable circumstances we should have been near the 
Cape of Good Hope. 

Up to the middle of May we experienced a succession 
of heavy squalls, head winds and calms, during which 
time many light sails were blown away. During the 
squalls of daily occurrence it rained in torrents and we 
were always able to keep our stock of water full. By 
the last of May we reached the Mozambique Channel 
where a heavy gale of three days was experienced, and 
after the gale the breeze was light Avith a long heavy 
swell setting from the south-west against us. Much of 
the time the ship labored heavily and pitched about in 
a very ugly manner with scarcely wind enough to keep 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 151 

the sails full. The ship had to be wore round often, as 
we could not tack with a heavy sea running and in 
such light winds. 

To the reader the foregoing must be tedious, indeed, 
and is merely inserted to give an idea of our usual rou- 
tine, day and night, and which continued for over one 
hundred days, being only varied by repairing sails which 
were blown to pieces and having our patience severely 
tried. 

One more extract from my log, and we will let this 
matter rest for awhile : "June 28, 1860. Strong gale from 
the north with clear sky and carrying all possible sail. 
At 5 p. m., furled the royals and top-gallant sails. Gale 
increasing, close reefed the topsails and furled the main- 
sail. Very heavy squalls with hail and lightning. At 
9 p. m. a heavy squall from northwest. Called all hands 
and took in the foresail. Terrific gale throughout the 
night. Ship laboring heavily but making no water. 
Pumps attended to every hour. At daylight wind mod- 
erated, shook the reefs from the topsails and wore ship. 
Latitude, 28 degrees 21 minutes south; longitude, 40 de- 
grees 38 minutes east. Eighty-three days from Cal- 
cutta." 

Something of our prospects could, perhaps, be imag- 
ined after such weather, for the Cape of Good Hope was 
yet to be doubled in the winter season, and we were soon 
to experience its terrible storms and icy seas, for we 
could not expect to reach it before the middle of July, 
and that corresponded to the month of January in 
northern latitudes. 



152 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 



CHAPTER XX. 



BAD WEATHER — COLI> — SNOW SQUALLS — CARRYII^^G 
SAIL — TRADE WINDS — CURRENTS. 



"And now there came both mist and snow, 
And it grew wondrous cold." 

jN the first of July there was a strong gale from the 
north-west, and rapidly falling barometer, with 
ugly cross sea running. At seven in the 
evening the wind suddenly hauled to the west. 
Close reefed the topsails and furled the cross-jack and 
mainsail. At ten o'clock very heavy gale from the 
west and by daylight the wind had so increased that all 
hands were called and sail reduced to a close reefed 
main-topsail and storm-staysails. Saw a large ship to 
windward with her fore-topmast carried away. At close 
of second day wind moderated somewhat. Run before 
the wind to westward and sighted land, called Platten- 
burg, bearing north, distant seventeen miles, which gave 
us an opportunity to ascertain our position and take a 
new departure. Wore ship and stood oif shore as water 
was growing discolored and we were too near land. 

One week later in tacking ship in a stiff breeze the 
mainsail was blown to ribbons in getting down the tack, 
as a heavy squall struck at the time. Heavy head seas 
running all the time and ship laboring heavily. July 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 153 

eleveDth. Strong gales from the north-west. Furled 
mainsail and close reefed topsails. At midnight took in 
the foresail and hove to. Latitude, 28 degrees, 7 min- 
utes south, and cold weather, with squalls of hail and 
snow. All the monkeys, birds and tiger cubs died of 
cold and were thrown overboard. The next day took 
in fore and mizzen topsails ; main topsail blew away and 
fore staysail torn from the bolt ropes. Sea ran so 
high that main spencer was no use as it was becalmed 
by seas rising above it, so we lay to under bare poles. 
During the next four days with great difficulty the fol- 
lowing was written in pencil in my journal : 

"Storm so terrific that it is impossible to keep the 
ship's reckoning or write the log. 

"Ship nearly on her beam ends all the time, and liable 
to go down at any moment. 

"All that can be done is to wait events. The helm is 
lashed down and we are helpless, drifting off slowly to 
the southward." 

During the latter part of this day the wind abated so 
that the upper main-topsail could be set close reefed, it 
being a new sail and very strong, and under it alone the 
ship was swung off before the wind, and with great diffi- 
culty kept from broaching to in the heavy sea. As 
soon as possible another sail was sent aloft and set. Be- 
ing so far south of the Cape, we could now hold our 
course to the north-west. 

Occasionally heavy squalls of hail would come up 
astern and make the ship stagger and reel like a drunken 
man, but in two days we were able to set the topsails and 
foresail, and under them the ship went tearing through 
the heavy seas, and it would have been about as com- 
fortable overboard as on deck ; the water was pouring 



154 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST ; OR, 

over the sides and bows like a cataract. It was freezing 
cold, andjWet to the skin with the seas that came roaring 
over the side every moment, and pelted with snow and 
hail from above, the situation was far from pleasant, and 
certainly not romantic. But we were homeward bound, 
and thanked God that every drenching sea and squall 
of hail and snow sent us nearer home. 
. One morning the wind died away, causing the ship to 
roll tremendously, yard arms to the water, this lasted 
about four hours, and was a most trying and perilous 
situation. The breeze then sprang up again, when the cap- 
tain ordered top-gallantsails set, and with masts bending 
like pieces of steel, groaning in every timber, and half- 
buried under the heavy seas, the gallant ship struggled 
on her way, and in a few hours more he ordered the 
royals to be set, which made everything strain and crack 
anew, but "Good Hope" had been passed, and we were 
on the home-stretch with a favorino; o-ale for the first time 
in three long weary months. Who could blame the old 
fellow for spreading the last stitch of canvas we could 
carry, sending the groaning ship madly through the 
seas at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. Four other 
ships were in company, but the most daring could only 
carry a top-gallantsail, and they must have thought us 
a reckless set, for the captain roared out to set the fore 
topmast studding sail, which was quickly blown to pieces 
before it was fairly set, and in a few hours all the other 
ships had fallen far astern. For two days we kept along 
with all sail the ship could possibly stagger under, and 
every time the watch was relieved from duty the men 
going below would remark, "the Boston girls have got 
hold of the tow-rope at last." 

To our infinite joy on the 20th of July we were in the 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 155 

region of the south-east trade-winds and with all sail set 
were making a rapid run to the north-west ; there was 
also a powerful current setting in the same direction, 
and as other oceanic disturbances have been written of 
it might be well to insert something in regard to currents 
and their causes. 

They consist of vast oceanic streams which keep up a 
perpetual circulation of the water, transferring them from 
one hemisphere to another — from the Pacific to the At- 
lantic, and to the Pacific again — and from the Polar 
Seas to the warm regions of the torrid zone. 

"Currents are due to[a variety of causes ; as the influ- 
ence of tides and winds — the evaporating power of the 
sun — the expansion and contraction of water by heat 
and cold — and the revolution of the earth upon its axis. 

"The eflect of the rise and fall of tides in producing an 
alternate flowing of currents in opposite directions, is 
perceived in channels between islands and the main 
land. Thus, in the channel which connects Long Island 
Sound with the harbor of New York, known as the East 
River, strong currents alternately prevail in opposite di- 
rections as the tide ebbs or flows. 

"Evaporation by solar heat is another cause of oceanic 
currents. Large quantities of water raised from one 
tract of the ocean are transported to some other, where 
the vapor is condensed and falls in the form of rain ; 
this, in flowing back to restore equilibrium, causes sensi- 
ble currents. A perpetual stream flows into the Medi- 
terranean from the Black Sea through the Bosphorus 
and Hellespont, and another from the Atlantic through 
the Strait of Gibraltar. No counter, lateral or subma- 
rine currents have been discovered sufiicient to dispose 
of the quantity of water flowing inward ; hence the 



156 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OK, 

inference that the inward current goes to supply the 
waste caused by the enormous evaporation. 

"The expansion and contraction of water by heat and 
cold are, perhaps, the principal causes to which currents 
are due. Warm water is specifically lighter than cold, 
and when certain portions become heated, they rise by 
reason of their buoyancy above the general surface, and 
are replaced by surrounding colder and heavier fluids 
flowing in beside or beneath them. The revolution of 
the earth upon its axis is still another powerful cause in 
producing currents, particularly those of the equatorial 
regions, which have commonly a westerly direction. The 
winds of tropical climates, which blow continuously, or 
during long periods in one direction, also lend their 
influence in affecting this class of oceanic movements. 

"Oceanic currents are classed as constant, periodical, 
variable, counter and drift currents. Constant currents 
are produced by the rotation of the earth, differences of 
temperature in the waters of the ocean, and other causes 
not yet fully understood. Periodical currents are prin- 
cipally due to the action of the tides, though they are 
doubtless affected somewhat by the land and sea breezes 
and monsoons. Variable currents are occasioned by 
tides, winds and melting of ice in the polar regions. 
Counter currents are the streams that flow alongside 
or beneath, and in opposite directions to other currents. 
Drift currents are the effect of permanent and prevail- 
ing winds upon the surface of the sea, and a variety of 
other causes. 

"Recent observations in high northern latitudes show 
that the Arctic current presents one of the most formid- 
able difficulties in exploring the polar regions. Parry, 
who attempted to reach the north pole by means of boat 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 157 

sledges and reindeer, traveled over the surface of the 
deep to nearly latitude 83 degrees, which seemed to be 
the utmost limit of animal life. Here he found that 
when, according to his reckoning, he had traveled ten 
or eleven miles towards the north, he had gone four miles 
to the south, owing to the current. The success of the 
expedition was thus rendered hopeless. The two vessels 
of the Grinnell expedition which were sent out, under 
the command of Lieutenant De Haven, to search for 
Sir John Franklin, after having penetrated far into Wel- 
lington Channel, were enclosed firmly in the ice, and 
drifted backward through Baffin's Bay, a distance of 
not less than 1,500 miles, thus baffling one of the 
noblest and most humane enterprises ever undertaken." 

There is not space in an article of this kind to define 
the geographical limits of the many great streams that 
pervade the mighty ocean, so we will briefly write of the 
Gulf Stream, which is most familiar of them all. 

The Mexican Gulf Stream is the most powerful cur- 
rent known, and the most important, in consequence of 
the extent to which it affects the navigation of the At- 
lantic. It originates in the Gulf of Mexico, the waters 
of which are characterized by a remarkably high tem- 
perature. It pours fourth at the rate of five miles an 
hour through the Straits of Florida, and flows in a 
north-westerly direction along the whole coast of the 
United States, expanding in volume and diminishing in 
rapidity. On striking the banks of Newfoundland, it 
sets to the east, and traverses the basin of the Atlantic 
to the Azores, where it turns south and enters the equa- 
torial current of the coast of Africa, and is conducted 
again to the west to re-enter into itself in the Gulf of 
Mexico. Thus the waters of the Atlantic Ocean be- 



158 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

tween the parallels of 11 and 43 degrees constitute a 
whirlpool of prodigious extent, by which a single parti- 
cle of water describes a circuit of over 11,000 miles in 
the space of two years and ten months. 

The color of the Gulf Stream, as it issues from the 
Straits of Florida, is a dark indigo blue ; the line of 
junction between it and the green waters of the Atlantic 
is plainly seen for hundreds of miles. This line is finally 
lost to the eye as the stream goes north, though it is pre- 
served to the thermometer for several thousand miles. 
From observations made with the deep-sea thermometer, 
it has been ascertained that "the stream," as far as the 
banks of Newfoundland, flows through a bed of cold 
water, which cold water performs to the warm the office 
of hanks to a river. 

Coming from the heated caldron of the Gulf of Mexi- 
co, the waters of the Gulf Stream have a high tempera- 
ture, which is gradually lost as they reach higher lati- 
tudes. The maximum temperature of the Gulf Stream 
is 86 degrees, or about 9 degrees above the ocean tem- 
perature due the latitude. Increasing in latitude 10 de- 
grees it loses 2 degrees of temperature, and, after having 
run 3,000 miles towards the north, it still preserves, 
even in winter, the heat of summer. With this tem- 
perature it crosses the 40th degree of north latitude, and 
then, overflowing its liquid hanks, it spreads itself out 
for thousands of square leagues over the cold waters 
around, and covers the ocean with a mantle of warmth 
that serves so much to mitigate in Europe the signs of 
winter. Moving now more slowly, but dispensing its 
genial influences more fully it finally meets the British 
Islands. By these it is divided, one part going into 'the 
polar basin of Spitzbergen, the other entering the Bay 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 159 

of Biscay, but each with a warmth considerably above 
the ocean temperature. Such an immense volume of 
heated water cannot fail to carry with it beyond the seas 
a mild and moist atmosphere. And this it is which so 
much softens climate there. 

Having thus briefly quoted from Maury and Somer- 
ville, let us return to our ship as she flies along before 
the favoring gale, with all canvas spread to the breeze 
and the water roaring beneath the sharp bows. 




160 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 



CHAPTER XXL 



''land, ho !" ST. HELENA ESTIMATE OF NAPOLEON- 
CROSS THE LINE NORTH STAR "FAR AT SEA" 

THE LAST PIG THE GULF STREAM THE 

BEGINNING OF THE END THE LAST 

NIGHT OF THE VOYAGE. 



"But frowning stern, and wrapt in sullen shade, 
Tremendous rock emerges on the sight; north-east a league." 

^^P to the 28th of July we were still rolling along 
^m before the wind with all sail set and good weather; 
"T° land had been seen but once since leaving Cal- 
cutta, and we were now bearing up for the Island 
of St. Helena, which from our calculations we knew 
could not be far off. 

The next day at 4 p. m., the cry of "Land, ho !" was 
heard from a man in the fore-topmast cross-tree. 

"Where away?" asked the captain. 

"Two points on the weather-bow, sir!" was the answer. 

And soon from the deck could be seen the giant rock 
looming up from the deep some thirty-five miles distant. 

Rising abruptly from the ocean this barren, rocky 
island is known to the world and rendered forever famous 
as the prison of the great Napoleon. On its storm- 
swept heights the great captive pined, sickened and died, 
and it would be impossible to describe the feelings that 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 161 

came to mind as I gazed on the spot where, amid the 
crash and glare of a tropical thunder-storm, his spirit 
passed the earthly vail. The true history of Napoleon 
Bonaparte is yet to be written, and it would be hard for 
any one to give a just estimate of the greatness of his 
genius or the littleness of his character. From a lieu- 
tenant of artillery he rose to be an Emperor. A Catholic, 
Mohammedan, or Protestant, as interest demanded, he 
could be all things to all people. The child of democ- 
racy, he placed the imperial crown upon his brow, and, 
casting aside his faithful and loving Josephine, wedded a 
daughter of the Caesars. But time has softened all this, and 
the brain that could at Avill disturb the peace of Europe, 
now crumbles in decay beneath the dome of the Inva- 
lides, in the midst of the French people whom he loved 
so well, and where a few bent and infirm survivors still 
guard and revere the ashes of their mighty chieftain. 
The armies that went forth but to victory, sleep on a 
hundred historic fields, and that bright star which rose 
from the horrors of the French revolution, appeared 
above the horizon at Toulon, culminated at Austerlitz, 
and thence for a few years flickered with a baleful and 
uncertain light, until it sank quenched in blood at Wa- 
terloo, has been but feebly represented by his nephew 
who inherited all his vices and none of his genius. 

Perhaps the best estimate, as well as most concise, of 
this remarkable man is given by the military historian 
S win ton : 

"The character of Napoleon B(maparte has been a 
matter of great discussion and of most opposed opinion- 
and this necessarily so, since in the judgment of lives, 
men differ so widely in their basis of judgment. Viewed 
merely from an intellectual standpoint, as a man accom- 



162 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

plishing worldly ends by worldly acts — by generalship, 
by faculty of combination, by administrative genius — 
he was undoubtedly the greatest that ever lived. But 
as a character he was neither good nor in the highest 
sense great ; for he was not great enough to be above self. 
We can only say that the work he did needed to be 
done, and let the verdict go at that. For the rest, never 
has the world seen ambition so brilliant in its success, so 
tragic in its fall." 

I have written at greater length than, perhaps, an 
article of this kind will warrant, but as the ship swept 
past the towering rocks I could only think of them in 
connection with him who has made them forever fa- 
mous. I was glad when the sun set and veiled the 
island from my sight. At day-break, however, it loom- 
ed up some seventy miles astern, and as I looked on it 
for the last time, there was no desire to ever see it again. 
It would be well for the world, and England's greatness 
if it could be forever forgotten. 

August 8th, 1860. Since losing sight of St. Helena, 
nothing eventful had occurred. We had fine weather 
and fair winds, and again crossed the equator in gallant 
style with all sail set and studding-sails on both sides; 
longitude 21 degrees, 30 minutes west. 

The good breeze hardly failed us after crossing the 
line, and when three degrees north of it, a stiff and fa- 
voring wind sent us rolling rapidly homeward. At mid- 
night the North Star appeared above the horizon for the 
first time in many long, weary months, and we looked 
upon it with as much joy and faith as did those of old 
upon the Star in the East. 

When the North Star appeared the watch were gath- 
ered on the forecastle, and as the little dim twinkle first 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 163 

shone above the belt of haze which skirted the horizon, 
a human wreck who had once seen better days, in a rich, 
tenor voice, broke forth in that sweet hymn of the days 
of happy childhood : 

"Star of peace ! to wand'rers weary, 

Bright the beams that smile o'er me. 
Cheer the pilot's vision dreary, 
Far, far at sea." 

The whole watch joined as he progressed, and when 
the second verse — 



'Star of hope ! gleam on the billow ; 

Bless the soul that sighs for thee, 
Bless the sailor's lonely pillow, 

Far, far at sea'"— 



was rendered with a full ten splendid voices, the effect 
was simply too much for human nature, outwardly stern 
and stoical. The old captain came tumbling up, and 
kept time by giving an awftil twang with his nose en- 
veloped in the enormous bandana of yore, but he listen- 
ed and did not order a pull at the braces. 

The cook also peered forth from the galley and his 
falsetto voice sounded like a piccolo as in perfect time he 
joined in the next sweet strain : 

"Star of faith ! when winds are mocking, 

All his toil he flies to thee, 
Save him on the billows rocking, 
Far, far at sea." 

The last verse was a grand outburst, and seemed to 
bring us nearer heaven than we had ever been before, and 
though a simple melody, yet went straight to the heart 
and seemed sublimely beautiful : 



164 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST ; OE, 



"Star divine ! oli, safely guide him, 
Bring tlie wanderer home to thee; 

Sore temptations long have tried him, 
Far, far at sea." 



I could not help noticing the effect of this little epi- 
sode of the voyage, and it seemed to make every one 
better, and subdue the turbulent, and naturally brings 
forth the query : Is the Divine spark wholly extin- 
guished even in the most degraded ? 

The beautiful Southern Cross and its ever attendant 
Magellan Clouds had disappeared; and the birds that 
flew in our wake since leaving the stormy seas of the 
Cape had one by one disappeared. With the little, dim, 
twinkling Pole Star as a guide, we seemed threading our 
lonely way through space in quest of our native land. 

After the middle of August two weeks of squally, 
rainy weather were experienced, when we were out of 
the variable wind region and had experienced no seri- 
ous mishap. The stock of provisions was running 
rather low, but good progress was being made, and we 
were under no great apprehensions, though we had been 
nearly five months at sea. Some of the men, however, 
began to show signs of scurvy, and only two native hogs 
survived of the many that left Calcutta. 

By the seventh of September the rate of sailing had 
been such that we were in 30 degrees north latitude, and 
were fast approaching the Gulf Stream, but it was still a 
long way off", and many days and nights would have to 
elapse before we could behold the land of our birth. 

On the fifteenth of September the last pig was led forth 
to the slaughter; he screamed and kicked in a manner that 
would have brought tears to the eyes of any but the 
hard-hearted crew. The poor cook blubbered audibly, 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 165 

however, over the death of his last favorite, and pro- 
nounced a eulogy over him after the manner of Cato 
over his dead son, and consoled himself by cutting off 
his head and bearing it in a huge dish to the galley. 
We were soon after compelled to subsist on rice and salt 
beef, which were all the provisions left, but all were 
buoyed up with hope, and indications showed that we 
were slowly nearing the long-sought haven. The air 
grew warm and moist and the clouds ahead gave evi- 
dence of the presence of that mighty oceanic current 
which we had so long looked forward to with longing 
eyes. 

September 20th. We had a few days of squalls, 
rain and head- winds, but the ship was in splendid order, 
and seemed to walk the waters '"like a thing of life." 
During the afternoon watch I stood in the main-topmast 
cross-trees, and looking far away to the north-west, be- 
held the clearly defined, deep indigo-blue current, and 
in a few hours we were plowing though its heated waters 
and the next morning were across its "liquid banks" 
and could feel the cool September breeze which seemed 
to come from our native land. 

Five long days and nights went by, of watching and 
waiting. Anchors were ready, and everything prepared 
to enter port ; many passing vessels were seen and the 
end could not be far off. 

September 29th. The last night of the voyage. All 
day long we had seen the "loom of the land" but it had 
not really appeared. "Keep a bright lookout !" said the 
officer of the deck, but the order was unnecessary, as 
the whole ship's company were gathered on the forecas- 
tle, all anxious to see the first light or a pilot boat. 

It was my watch below at 8 o'clock but there was no 



166 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST) OK, 

sleep for me ; sail had been reduced and the ship rolled 
badly, and notwithstanding the fatiguing duties of the 
day, my mind was filled with doubts, fears and appre- 
hensions, so when midnight came it was a relief to go on 
duty again. About one hour past midnight, far away 
to windward, three dim and twinkling lights appeared. 
At first I was not sure they were lights, but a few mo- 
ments of careful watching convinced me that they 
really were. Calling the captain's attention to them and 
gazing long and steadily he grufifiy remarked, "Those 
are Nausett lights. Set all sail at once !" 

The light sails were speedily loosed and set, the wind 
blew in puffs and rather stiflT for royals, but as the situa- 
tion was known the old fellow seemed desperate. 

The gallant ship held her way nobly and went tearing 
over the water at a fearful rate. 

We were only waiting for daylight to lift the curtain 
and reveal the near, but hidden shores : — 

"And ever the fitful gusts between, 

A sound came from the land, 
It was the sound of the trampling surf, 
On the rocks and hard sea-sand." 

"Call all hands !" said the captain, "it is no time for 
sleep !" 

Soon every one was on deck, and in the darkness a 
voice seemed to rise from beneath the bows : 

"Ship, ahoy !" 

"Aye, aye," said the captain in response. 

"Back your main-topsail for a pilot," said the voice, 
and a beautiful little schooner seemed to rise out of the 
sea, and rounding to, lowered a boat and the pilot came 
on board. He was hardly over the side when he order- 
ed, "Brace up the main yard !" and again bending to 
the breeze the ship glided on her course. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 161 



CHAPTER XXII. 



THE END. 



IpT would be impossible to relate with what anxiety 
•^^ we inquired for the latest news, as well as all 



that had transpired during our six months of pil- 

* grimage and complete isolation from the rest of the 

world. But there was little time to ask questions, 

for daylight was at hand and we were entering the 

harbor. 

The State House, Bunker Hill Monument, and famil- 
iar landmarks rose to vieAV ; the gallant ship, with all 
sail spread to the breeze, seemed a huge moving tower 
of canvas, and with colors flying we passed up the har- 
bor, and dextrously handled by the skillful pilot the 
sight was a brave spectacle and never to be forgotten. 
As I gazed aloft at the canvas and flying colors for the 
last time, I could not help feeling some professional 
pride at the condition of the vessel as well as satisfac- 
tion at the part we had taken through the trials of the 
past. For years our daily life had been beset with per- 
ils and hardships of every kind, whether in the storm, 
the pestilence, the fearful pangs of hunger, or personal 
conflict with a savage foe. True sailors must be 
necessarily brave. Their daily life calls these qualities 
into constant requisition ; from their boyhood up they 



168 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OK, 

wrestle with storms and the dangers of the deep until 
they learn to look death coolly in the face, and to meet 
it with serene self-possession. Could their chronicles 
ever be written, they would furnish instances of heroism 
compared with which the feats of Horatius at the bridge 
and hosts of other heroes would seem pale and theatri- 
cal, for such as they sacrifice life and face danger 
in the presence of a host of admiring countrymen, 
while the humble seamen plunge into dangers destitute 
of dramatic effect, and which can never appear in 
history. 

Soon the order was given to shorten sail, and finally 
the courses were hauled up and the great topsails settled 
slowly down, and in a few moments the headway ceased. 
We had reached our destination. 

"Stand by the anchor," said the pilot. 

"Aye, aye, sir," came the response from the ofiicer on 
the forecastle. 

The carpenter stood on the cat-head awaiting the 
order to let go. 

The pilot waved his hand — the sharp click of the 
hammer was heard on the iron stopper, the next instant 
a crash, and the ship trembled throughout her vast hull 
as the ponderous anchor fell from the bow and the heavy 
chain rattled through the hawse pipe. 

The voyage was ended. One hundred and eighty 
days at sea, during which time land had been but twice 
seen. Through storm and calm, tropic heat and winter 
cold, for nearly twenty thousand miles we had held our 
weary way, but now all was over and the ship lay quiet 
and still. 

She was soon taken alongside India wharf and desert- 
ed by the crew. One cool morning in October, after the 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 169 

cargo had been discharged, a proposal was made me by 
the owners to go another voyage, but a letter received 
the day previous, from w^hich the following is an extract, 
made a change in future life and prospects. 

"Office of the Secretary of the Navy. 
"Washington, D. C. 
"Mr. . 

"Sir : Permission is hereby given you to report to 
Commodore J. B. Montgomery, commanding Charles- 
town Navy Yard, for instruction in gunnery, and at the 
end of five months you have permission to report to the 
commandant at the same station for examination as to 

your qualifications for the position of in the Navy 

of the United States, and should you be found qualified 
a commission will be issued to you as such. Enclosed 
you will find a list of the necessary requirements for the 
position. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 

"Very respectfully, 

"ISAAC TOUCEY, 
"Secretary of the Navy." 



The war looming up w^ith dim and threatening hor- 
rors came at last, and it was my lot to be one of a group 
of officers standing on the quarter deck of a first-class 
steam frigate on a bright spring morning in 1861. We 
were rapidly leaving the harbor under both steam and 
sail. Our orders were sealed, and as we passed the 
headlands our vessel turned southward and rolled along 
before the favoring wind and sea. Thoughts of the past 
and the future came to my mind. So far, life had been 
a comedy with a tragic incident now and then, but the 



170 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST; OR, 

curtain was about to rise on the greatest of earthly 
tragedies ; and of the many youthful faces of my com- 
rades, but few survive, and they, like myself, almost 
envy those who went down to death in battle, and 
wreck, which soon followed. 

The curtain in that great drama rapidly rose and fell 
for four long, long years, each scene being more terrible 
than the preceding. When it slowly descended for the 
last time in a blaze of military and naval glory, amid 
the thundering plaudits of the nation, it concealed the 
worn and tired actors : 

"These, in the robings of glory. 

Those, in the gloom of defeat, 
All, with the battle-blood gory. 

In the dusk of eternity meet : — 
Under the sod and dew, 

Waiting the judgment day : — 
Under the laurel, the Blue; 

Under the willow, the Gray. 

"80, with an equal splendor, 
The morning sun-rays fall, 
With a touch impartially tender, 

On the blossoms blooming for all : — 
Under the sod, and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day :— 
Broidered with gold, the Blue; 

Mellowed with gold, the Gray. 

"From the silence of sorrowful houi's, 

The desolate mourners go, 
Lovingly laden with flowers, 

Alike for the friend, and the foe: — 
Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the judgment day : — 
Under the roses, the Blue; 

Under the lilies, the Gray." 

During the war it was my fortune to witness many in- 
teresting and tragic scenes. It had its bright and dark 
sides. I had many friends who fought against each 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 



171 



other, and the reminiscenses of that great struggle would 
fill a volume much larger than this, but, the foregoing is 
a digression, and reminds me that we have reached the 
end of the narrative of 




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